MANSFIELD, CONN.  4/16/10 - The Keene State College men's lacrosse team did something on Friday night it's never done before – beat Eastern Conn. State on its home turf. 

The Owls (6-5, 3-0 LEC) broke open a close game by out-scoring the Warriors 5-1 in the fourth quarter to beat their rivals 17-11 at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex and in the process gain an upper-hand in the battle for the Little East Conference regular season championship.

It was an emotional win for KSC, which had lost 11 straight games to ECSU in the Nutmeg State.  “Unbelievable,” said Jamie LeSage, a senior midfielder from Exeter, N.H.  “There was a huge wave of emotion in the final couple of minutes when we knew we were going to win.”

“This is the first time that we've beaten them down here in my 12 years at Keene State,” said Coach Mark Theriault.  “This meant a lot to me.”

Playing a patient and deliberate style the Owls took a 3-2 lead after the first quarter and extended its advantage to 9-4 at halftime when sophomore Griffin Meehan (Simsbury, Conn.) found the back of the net with just three second to play.

“We did some basic things very well and our defense did a good job shutting them down,” said Theriault.

Taking advantage of a couple of Owl penalties, the Warriors cut the lead to 12-10 after three quarters of play.  “We got away from what we were doing and became over-aggressive,” said Theriault.

Keene State righted the ship in the fourth quarter.  Trying to get back in the game, the Warriors doubled the ball opening up scoring opportunities for the Owls.  Freshman Ian Hart (Richmond, N.H.) scored a critical goal with just under five minutes left to re-store Keene's three-goal lead, 14-11. Meehan, the LEC scoring leader, who had two goals through the first  58 minutes,scored into an open net three times in the final two minutes to provide the Owls with the final six-goal spread.  “We didn't try to force the issue tonight,” said Meehan, who finished the game with five goals, giving him a team high 36 this season.  “We were patient and it paid off.”

Sophomore Matt Schairer (Wrentham, Mass.) and freshman Taylor Jette (Simsbury, Conn.) each had three goals while Hart and LeSage found the back of the net twice. Meehan also dished out three assists.  

Zach Malouf and Grant Albertson each had three goals for the defending LEC champ Warriors (7-4, 2-1 LEC), who came into the game ranked 10th in New England and riding a 16 game LEC regular-season winning streak.

Introduced to the Eastern-Keene State rivalry for the first time, freshman Jason Lesser (Brewster, N.Y.) turned aside nine shots for KSC.  Donald Berube made seven saves for the Warriors.

“We're going to enjoy this win tonight, but we can't let-up,” said Theriault. “Our last four games are against LEC teams.  And they mean as much as this one.”