'KEENE, N.H. 5/3/07 - Tony Santa Fe(Derry, N.H.) and Ryan
Hazelton (Chester, N.H.) had three goals each to lead top seed
Keene State College to a 15-3 victory over fourth seed UMass-Boston
in a Little East Conference men's lacrosse semifinal game played at
Owl Athletic Complex on Thursday.
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three goals against UMass-Boston. Photo by Mike Phillips"
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Keene State (14-0), which set a program record for wins in a
season, will host second seed Eastern Conn. in the championship
game on Saturday (1 p.m.). ECSU defeated third Western Conn.
21-11 in the other semifinal game. It's the fifth straight
year the Owls have faced the Warriors in the finals. KSC won the
2005 title.
The Owls, ranked 17th in this week's national poll, jumped out
to a 5-0 lead after the first quarter on the way to building up an
8-0 advantage midway in the second quarter. The Beacons
scored the final two goals of the quarter to make it an 8-2 game at
the half.
KSC scored three unanswered goals in the third quarter to take a
commanding 11-2 lead.
"We have a shutdown defense, so if we can get a few early goals
its tough on a team to come back on us," said Santa Fe, who leads
the Owls with 35 goals.
"The key was getting off to a good start," said KSC Coach Mark
Theriault. "We set the tempo and never let them back in the
game."
Peter Lauranzano (Beverly, Mass.), Mike Fontaine (Wolfeboro,
N.H.)and Casey Brodersen (Derry, N.H.) each netted a pair of goals
for the Owls. Lauranzao chipped in with three assists.
Robert Thayer (West Tisbury, Mass.), Christopher Hanafin
(Burlington, Mass), and Dale Nunn (Hillsborough, N.H.) scored for
UMass-Boston (7-7).
Matt Johnson (Derry, N.H.) made eight saves before turning over
the goalie chores to Billy Brooks (Lewiston, Me.) who stopped one
shot.
Nicholas Eaton (Rowley, Mass.) finished the game with 14 saves
for the Beacons.
