SPRINGFIELD, Mass. â€" For openers, it was about as good as it gets.

Western New England College outscored Keene State 4-3 in penalty strokes after 100 minutes of action to open its “Silver Anniversary” campaign with a 2-1 victory in the season opener for both teams Thursday night.

Junior Stephanie Gildart (Portland, ME) gave the Golden Bears a 1-0 lead at 14:07 of the first half with an assist from junior Allison Jameson (Brattleboro, VT) off a penalty corner. The Owls tied the contest when junior Steph Georgevits (Concord, NH) scored with 4:53 left in regulation with an assist from junior Amanda Rosenbeck (Wilder, VT).

Jameson ended the well-played contest when she hit the back of the net on the last penalty stroke of the evening.

Each team had several good scoring opportunities in the two 15-minutes overtime sessions, but couldn’t convert.

Both goalies were outstanding as WNEC senior Jillian Brown (Plymouth, MA) finished with 10 saves while KSC junior Sara Joyce (Hampstead, NH) had 11 stops.

This was the first win ever for Western New England College over Keene State (the defending Little East Conference champion) in three meetings and avenged a 3-0 loss to the Owls last season.