KEENE, N.H. - The Keene State men's soccer program was unable to come back from an early deficit in their second to last regular season game, as the Owls suffered a 1-0 loss to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) on Wednesday evening at Owl Athletic Complex. 

Records 

• Keene State: 8-8-1, 3-3 LEC
• RPI: 8-6-3, 5-2-1 LL

Up Next 

• Keene State will host UMass Boston on Saturday, October 29th at 1 p.m. in the Owls' final regular and Little East Conference (LEC) game of the season. 
• RPI will take on Saint Thomas Aquinas College at 1 p.m. on Saturday. 

Quotables 

• "I appreciate the effort the boys gave tonight, every single one of them. We had some great chances to score, we just missed, but I can't fault our effort. Our effort is there, our style of play is good and we are playing very well. " -- Head Coach Rick Scott
• "We played really well today and I thought we controlled the whole time, but we just have to start bearing those goals and putting the ball in." -- Junior Aidan Dean

Tale of the Tape 

• Keene State outshot RPI in both stanzas and held an overall 18-15 advantage over the Engineers. 
• Jason Smith tallied five saves in the loss, while Matt LaBranche stopped six. 

First Half Highlights 

• The Engineers jumped out to an early lead to tally the lone goal of the contest, as Devon Baughen sent a cross from the left side to the right side of the box and to the feet of Nick Revano in the 5th minute. Revano fired off a shot at Smith, who was in position, but the goalkeeper was unable to control the shot, as the ball found the back of the net, to give RPI the lead. 
• The Owls picked up the offense in the 19th minute, as Binogono ripped off a shot that was blocked and Riley Stelle's effort a minute later went just right. 
• RPI almost earned another goal in the 28th minute, as Vito Mesiti's shot hit the crossbar and landed back into the box, where it was picked by Austin Betterly, who sent the ball towards the net, but Aidan Dean was there to block the Engineers from doubling their lead. 
• Keene State continued to test the Engineers' defense and LaBranche, as Jacob Chiza's shot on frame in the 33rd minute, was tipped over the crossbar by an outstretched LaBranche.
• With just five minutes remaining on the clock, Samuel Binogono dribbled past multiple defenders in the box and sent a pass to Dean with no defenders in front of him, but his shot went high, as the Owls went into halftime down one. 

Second Half Highlights

• The Owls continued to press the Engineers in the second half, as a shot by Conor Leahy in the 48th minute went just wide and another opportunity off of Leahy's head in the 52nd minute was picked up by LaBranche. 
• Austin Betterly used his speed multiple times in the second half to surge towards the goal, but his opportunities were thwarted by Riley Steele and the Keene State defenders. 
• Keene State's best opportunity came in the 73rd minute, as give-and-go passing between Binogono and Leahy moved the ball into the box, which led to Binogono sending a pass across to William Salta, who fired off a powerful shot, but LaBanche made a diving save to keep the lead and earn the win.