CORTLAND, N.Y.  5/15/10 – The Keene State College men's lacrosse hung tough in the first quarter before falling to the defending Division III National Champion Red Dragon's of SUNY Cortland 18-6 in a second-round game of the NCAA tournament at the SUNY Cortland Complex on Saturday.

The nationally third-ranked Red Dragons broke open a close game with a 12-goal run spanning late in the first quarter into the third quarter on the way to posting the victory.

Advancing to the NCAA second-round for the second time in the program's history, Keene State concludes its season with a   13-6 record.  The Owls came into the game riding a 10-game winning streak.

The Red Dragons, who won their 15th consecutive game, improved to 16-2 on the season and advance to face RIT, an 11-9 winner at Connecticut College, Wednesday at home in the national quarterfinals.

Sophomore Matt Schairer (Wrentham, Mass.) paced the Owls' offense with three goals and an assist. Freshman Taylor Jette (Simsbury, Conn.) contributed two goals and an assist, and sophomore Griffin Meehan (Simsbury, Conn.) scored a goal. Freshman Jonathan Rodrick (Plaistow, NH/Timberlane) chipped in with two assists and sophomore James Galloway (Simsbury, CT) recorded one assist.

Seven different players scored two goals for Cortland. Sophomores Mike Tota (Webster/Webster Schroeder) and Greg Wright (Irondequoit) led the way with two goals and two assists each

After the Red Dragons took a 1-0 lead, KSC scored its first goal with 8:49 left in the first quarter when Meehan found the top right corner on a pass from Matt Schairer (Wrentham, Mass.) to even the game at 1-1.

On the ensuing attack, the Red Dragons were called for slashing, giving KSC a man-up opportunity. Schairer gave the Owls its only lead of the game 2-1.  Cortland tied the game with 53 seconds to go in the quarter.

"In the first quarter we did a great job of sticking to the game plan," said KSC head coach Mark Theriault. "We possessed the ball well, took quality shots and limited the amount of turnovers, which is how they like to jumpstart their offense."

Jason Lesser (Brewster, N.Y.), the Owls' freshman goalie, came up big in the first quarter. "I thought Lesser played out of his mind in the first quarter," said Theriault. "He was seeing the ball well and making great stops to keep us in it."

Cortland took over for there, scoring 12 consecutive goals to go up 13-2. 

"We stopped playing our game during their run,” said Theriault. "You can't give a quality team like Cortland man-up opportunities.”

Jette snapped Cortland's run with his 36th goal of the season with 5:12 left in the third quarter. Following a pair of Red Dragon's goals, Schairer netted goals six seconds apart to make it 15-5.  Cortland scored the first three goals of the fourth quarter before Jette scored the final goal of the game for the 18-6 final.

Lesser finished the game with 12 saves, six of which came in the first quarter.  Mike Kaminski made eight saves and allowed five goals in 52:48 for Cortland Sophomore Kyle Gaebel (Deferiet, N.Y.) played the final 7:12 making a save and allowing a goal for the Red Dragons.

The Owls were making their third trip to the NCAA tournament.  In 2005, KSC lost an opening-round home game to Endicott College 11-10.  In 2007, the Owls defeated Merchant Marine 14-11 at Owl Athletic Complex, becoming the first LEC school to win an NCAA game. Advancing to the second-round, KSC lost to Western New England 13-5.