PLYMOUTH, N.H. - Senior Gareth Stephens (Yeovil, England) scored his second game-winning goal of the year with six minutes remaining Sunday afternoon, breaking a 2-2 deadlock and sending Plymouth State University to a 3-2 victory over Keene State College in a Little East Conference men's soccer match at Panther Field.

            PSU scored the first goal of the game, but had to battle from behind after Keene State had come back with two unanswered goals.  The outcome gives PSU its first conference win of the season as the Panthers improve to 3-5-0 overall and 1-1-0 in the LEC, while Keene State drops to 3-4-2 overall and 0-2-0 in the Little East.

            Senior Semir Mehmedovic (Concord, N.H.) put the home team on the board midway through the opening frame.  KSC came back to tie the game with just over five minutes to play in the half on senior Alex Horne's (Harvard, Mass.) team-leading sixth goal of the season.

            Keene State wasted little time in taking a second-half lead as freshman Jon Fothergill (Merrimack, N.H.) scored for the Owls less than five minutes in.  PSU got the equalizer when freshman Dre Cabral (Tokyo, Japan) knocked in a header for his first career goal off a nicely served ball from Mehmedovic.

            The score stayed tied until Stephens picked up a loose ball in the box and fired it into the net for the eventual game-winner.  Stephens also had a big game against rival Keene State last year, scoring two goals in a 4-1 Panther win.  He also scored the game-winner against Potsdam State with two minutes remaining in this year's season opener.

            Keene State finished with a narrow 10-9 advantage in shots.  Owl junior keeper Peter Kersker (Ipswich, Mass.) made five saves and Panther senior keeper Tyler Shute (Deerfield, N.H.) made four.

            PSU is on the road for its next game Wednesday for a non-conference affair at Worcester State College (4:00 p.m.), while Keene State returns home to host Williams College on Tuesday (6:30 p.m.)

-- 30 --