DANBURY, CT - Western Connecticut State University junior forward Autumn Sorice (Bethel, CT) scored three goals in the first 19:33 of Tuesday night's 6-3 victory over Rhode Island College in the Little East Conference Tournament Quarterfinals at The Westside Athletic Complex.

The Colonials, seeded third and now 13-5-2, advance to play second seed Keene State College on Thursday, November 5 in the LEC Semifinals.  Game time is set for 6 pm against the Owls.

Sorice, this week's LEC Women's Soccer Offensive Player of the Week, has now scored nine goals over Western's last four games including a pair of back-to-back hat-tricks in a four-day span.

She put the Colonials on the scoreboard after finishing off a nice feed from classmate Andrea DeVoe (Farmington, CT) with just 2:28 elapsed in the contest.

Eleven minutes later, Sorice scored an unassisted goal to give the winners a 2-0 advantage.

Rhode Island College, which ends its season at 6-11-2, drew within a goal when Stephanie Ricci (Smithfield, RI) notched her fourth goal of the season.

Sorice registered her league-leading 23rd goal of the season, another unassisted tally, with 25:27 remaining before intermission.  Shortly after her final goal, she was removed from the contest and would not return.

Lucy Daniels (Bethel, CT), Allison Oakley (Beekman, NY) and Brittany Julian (Simsbury, CT) added insurance goals in the tail end of the first stanza and early on in the second half.

In the 76th minute, Brittany DeGrooth (Westerly, RI) scored her seventh goal of the season following a quick pass from Eleni Grammas (Cranston, RI) in the middle, and RIC drew closer at 6-2.

Alexandra Natale (Ledyard, CT), fresh off the Anchorwomen's bench, registered her first collegiate goal in the closing minutes.

Serena Gunter (Jewett City, CT) made six saves for the Colonials before yielding to Jenna Gentile (Norwalk, CT) for the final 11 minutes.  Gentile made one stop for the winners.

Elsa Almeida (Coventry, RI) and Brianna Sousa (Warwick, RI) split time in goal for RIC.  Almeida made seven saves over the first 45 minutes before Sousa came on after intermission and made five saves.

The Colonials sit atop the Little East Conference with eight league titles, including last year's victory over Thursday's host, Keene State College.  The Owls have captured four LEC crowns since 1999.