Box Score KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College offense exploded for 12 first-half goals as the men's lacrosse team went on to defeat UMass Dartmouth 18-5 Saturday afternoon at Owl Stadium in the Little East Conference opener for both schools.
The victory brought the Owls' record to 4-4, 1-0 in the Little East Conference. The Corsairs drop to 3-5, 0-1 in LEC play.
Tyler McKelvie led Keene State with four goals and Ryan Hart totaled six points with three goals and three assists. Rob Hart added a hat trick and an assist for four points, while Kevin Carey and Tyler Reilly each added two goals.
Connor Gaffney paced the UMass Dartmouth offense with two goals.
After Zach Drolette put the Corsairs on the board first at the 14:04 mark, the Owls rattled off 10 straight goals across the first and second quarter to take a 10-1 lead with 2:45 left in the first half.
KSC received goals from four different players in the first quarter from Rob Hart, Ryan Hart, McKelvie and Carey for the 4-1 advantage at the end of one.
Tyler Reilly opened the second quarter with two straight goals for the Owls for the 6-1 lead. Freshman Frank Bacarella scored his first-career goal at the 6:20 mark of the second.
Sean Matthews and Gaffney scored nine seconds apart to stop the Owls run and creep within 10-3. That would be short-lived as KSC responded by putting two more on the board to go into halftime up 13-3.
Keene State would outscore the Corsairs 6-2 in the second half, adding three goals in each period. Ace Mazzulli recorded his first-career goal with 1:30 left in the game.
The Owls finished with a 46-21 advantage in shots and 49-28 in groundballs.
Dylan Florian made five saves in 30 minutes of playing time for KSC, while Alex Sharp and Jack Rogers took over in the second half. Matt Lafond stopped six shots for the Corsairs, as he was replaced by Scott Spangenberg in the second half.
The Owls take a week off before a road game against Western Connecticut next Saturday at 1 p.m.
