'KEENE, N.H. 5/10/06 - The top seeded Keene State College men's lacrosse team broke open a tie game with six unanswered goals in the third quarter on the way to posting a 16-8 victory over fourth seed Lasell College in a ECAC Division III New England semifinal game played at Owl Athletic Complex on Wednesday evening.

Keene State (12-3) advances to the championship game for the first time.  The Owls will face second seed Wheaton College in the finals of the four-team tournament on Saturday (1 p.m.) at the Complex.  Wheaton defeated third seed UMass-Boston 19-9 in its semifinal game. Lasell concludes its season with a 10-6 record.

Taking a 2-0 lead after the first quarter, KSC went up 5-3 at the 2:30 mark of the second quarter on the first of Tony Santa Fe's (Derry, N.H.) three goals.   The Lasers scored two goals in the last minute of the quarter to make it a 5-all game at the half.

It was all KSC from there.  The Owls outscored the Lasers 6-0 in the third quarter to go up 11-5.  Ryan Hazelton (Chester, N.H.), Sean Panora (South Windsor, Conn.), the LEC's co-offensive player of the year, and Santa Fe netted two goals each in the uprising.

"I told the players at halftime that it was gut-check time," said KSC coach Mark Theriault.  "If they didn't work hard, they were going home. They responded and had a terrific third quarter."

Hazelton and Panora finished with four goals each while Santa Fe had four assists to go with his three goals. Greg Gonzales (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) also chipped in with a couple of goals.

Kyle Minaker (Newton, Mass.) and Daniel Winter (Floral Park, N.Y.) topped the Lasers with three goals each.

Matt Johnson, the LEC's defensive player of the year finished with 10 saves.  Brad Bishop (Brunswick, Me.) had one save.

Mark Demieri (Seaford, N.Y.) stopped 17 shots for Lasell.

It was the first meeting between the two teams on the lacrosse field.