WILLIMANTIC, CONN. 5/2/09 - The seconded seeded Keene State
College men's lacrosse team lost to top seed Eastern Conn. State
University 12-8 in the championship game of the Little East
Conference Tournament played in Willimantic, Conn. on Saturday.
It was the sixth conference crown for the Warriors (14-3), who
earn the LEC's automatic berth to the NCAA tournament. Keene
State, which concludes its season with a 9-4 record, has faced ECSU
in the finals six out of the past seven years. The Owl won LEC
titles in 2005 and 2007.
"I thought we played a pretty decent game," said KSC Coach
Mark Theriault, "We had a couple of lapses in the
game, that with a couple of transition goals, was the
difference."
"The six seniors are disappointed, but we made it to the finals
and had a great season," he said.
The two teams trade goals in the first quarter with sophomore
Michael Araujo (Southborough, Mass.) scoring for
the Owls.
Freshman Griffin Meehan (Simsbury, Conn.) and
senior Tony Santa Fe (Derry, N.H.) scored goals to
open the second quarter giving KSC a 3-1.
The Warriors responded with four consecutive goals, two from
Maxim Fantl, to take a 7-4 halftime lead.
Coming out of the break junior Dax Greene
(Westborough, Mass.) and Santa Fe scored to cut the Warriors' lead
to 7-6. After Brendan Hoppey scored, senior Casey
Brodersen (Derry, N.H.) found the back of the net to make
it a one goal game at 8-7.
Eastern Conn scored one more time in the closing seconds of the
third quarter and tallied the first two goals of the fourth quarter
to make it an 11-7 game. Senior Rodney
Araganese (Trumbull, Conn.) scored a man-up goal with 5:09
to play to make it 11-8, but KSC got no closer.
Brodersen and Santa Fe each had two goals for the Owls.
Meehan, KSC's top scorer, was held to one goal. Arganese,
Arajujo, and Greene round out the goal scored for the Owls.
Matthew Savage had five goals to lead the Warriors.
Sophomore Alec Corliss (Waltham, Mass.)
finished the game with nine saves for the Owls. Kyle Savage
stopped 12 shots for ECSU.
