WILLIMANTIC, Conn. - Tyler Prescott (Norwalk,
CT) scored on a pass from Matthew Savage
(Southington, CT) with 11 minutes gone in
sudden-death overtime to give the Eastern Connecticticut State
University men's lacrosse team a 11-10 Little East Conference
victory over No. 17 nationally-ranked Keene State College Saturday
afternoon at Thomas Nevers Field.
The loss is Keene's (7-2, 4-1 little east)
first in a conference match since Eastern (9-5, 5-0 little east)
defeated the Owls in the championship game of the 2006 LEC playoffs
by a 14-12 score. The Warriors remain undefeated at home in eight
years of conference play, with their four conference losses in that
span coming at the hands of Keene, the 2005 and 2007 regular-season
and playoff champion. The match was the longest in Eastern's
13-year history.
With one conference match remaining, , Eastern is
guaranteed of earning the No. 1 seed in the upcoming LEC playoffs
which get underway a week from Tuesday with first-round matches and
is also guaranteed of at least a share of the regular-season title.
The loss is the second straight for Keene after seven opening
victories.
Keene unloaded 17 shots on goal in 11 minutes of overtime
but could not break through against Eastern goalie Kyle Savage
(Southington, CT), who made six of his game total of 19 in extra
time. Eastern had forced overtime when DJ Simmons (Mystic, CT)
scored an unassisted goal with 3:28 left in regulation.
Keene scored the first three goals of the match and held a
three-goal edge at halftime with a 6-3 lead. The Warriors finally
tied the match at 6-all on a goal from Pete Hamilton (Rutland, VT)
with nine minutes left in the third period. Eastern outscored the
Owls 5-2 in the third period to carrey an 8-7 lead into the final
period. Hamilton gave Eastern its only two-goal lead by scoring his
second goal of the match to open the fourth period,but the Owls
answered with three in a row in a span four minutes to assume a
10-9 lead with 8:38 left. Simmons, who scored three of Eastern's
five goals in the third period, beat Keene All-America goalie
Matt Johnson (Derry, NH) with a bad-angle shot
with 3:28 left in regulation.
In overtime, both Johnson and Savage made a number of saves from
point-blank range to keep the game deadlocked until just 59 seconds
remained in the third four-minute, sudden-death overtime period.
The teams combined for eight extra-man opportunities, but
neither could capitalize. The Owls had a prime opportunity to win
in the first overtime when they were awarded a man-up opportunity
with 23 seconds left, but Eastern's man-down unit kept the visitors
off the board. Keene amassed a 62-50 advantage in shots, but
Eastern managed to put two more shots on net than the Owls.
Eastern defenseman Steve Lane (Groton, CT) collected a
career-high eight ground balls for Eastern, with defenseman Mike
Silvestrini (Guilford, CT) and Simmons recording five each. Antonio
Perretta (Hamden, CT), who had won less than 40 per cent of his
faceoffs this year, was 7-for-11 in that department in
helping the Warriors capture 14 of 25 faceoffs.
Tony Santa Fe (Derry, NH) scored half of
Keene's ten goals, but none of his teammates had more than one.
Johnson made 17 saves and Alex Corliss (Waltham,
MA) came up with three saves over the final 65 seconds of the
third period while Johnson was serving a penalty. Casey Broderson
(Derry, NH) had seven ground balls for the Owls, Johnson and Riley
Benson (Chester, NH) scooping up five.
KSC returns home to face Colby College on Tuesday.
(Courtesy ECSU Sports Information)
