TROY, N.Y.  3/3/12 - The Keene State College men's lacrosse teams' comeback bid came up a goal short, falling to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) 10-9 in a non-conference game in Troy, N.Y on Saturday. 

            It was the second one goal loss for the Owls (0-2), who opened their season with a tough 7-6 overtime setback at Bates College last Wednesday.  RPI, ranked 19th in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) preseason coaches' poll, improves to 2-0. 

            "We dug ourselves a hole and struggled on face-offs.  If you don't have the ball, it's hard to get any momentum offensively," said KSC Coach Mark Theriault. "I thought the offense did a nice job, they just didn't have the ball enough."

            Freshman Ryan Hart (Richmond, N.H.) led the Owls with four goals.  Andrew Miller and Eric Valero each netted three goals for the Engineers. 

            The Owls had to play catch-up the entire game.  Falling behind 3-1, KSC erupted for three straight goals in a four minute span to take a 4-3 lead on Hart's second goal of the game. 

            Valero found the back of the net with 57 seconds to go in the first quarter to tie the game at four-all.

            Keene State fell behind 7-4 early in the second quarter.  Hart scored to make it 7-5 and after a RPI goal, scored again on a man-up goal to make it an 8-6 game at halftime.

            The Engineers scored the only two goals of the third quarter to take a 10-6 lead.

            The Owls began their comeback with a goal by senior Matt Schairer (Wrentham, Mass.) just 48 seconds into the fourth quarter.  Senior Matt Cremmins (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) tallied twice to pull KSC to within one goal 10-9 with five minutes to play. 

            Junior Ian Hart (Richmond, N.H.) had a chance to tie the game, but his shot sailed wide of the net with 2:19 to play.  KSC got the ball back with 40 seconds left, but couldn't get the equalizer. 

            Junior Taylor Jette (Simsbury, Conn.), and Ian Hart also scored for the Owls.  Jetted also had a couple of assists.

            Freshman Jack Rogers (Acton, Mass.) started in goal for KSC and finished with 11 saves.  James Manchester turned aside eight shots for RPI.  RPI outshot KSC 37-27 and won 18 of 23 face-offs in the game.

            "I purposely scheduled games against Bates and RPI so that we can play at a high level of lacrosse early in the season," said Theriault.  "Both games could've easily been wins.  We just need a little bit more offense and worry about face-offs a little more."

            Keene State plays at Salve Regina University on Wednesday (4:30 p.m.) before heading to Florida for spring break week and a game against #18 Springfield College on March 17.