KEENE, N.H.--Sophomore goalie Mathew Howe made a Keene State single game record 25 saves as the No. 16 Owls fell to No. 1 Tufts University on Wednesday night at Owl Athletic Complex.

Records

• Keene State: 2-1
• Tufts: 2-0

Up Next

• Keene State takes on Hamilton College on March 15 in Davenport, Fla.
• Tufts opens NESCAC play by traveling to Middlebury on March 12. 

Tale of the Tape

• Howe, making his third career start, was outstanding in keeping the Jumbos at bay.  The 25 saves eclipse a record set by Matt Johnson against Western New England University in the 2007 NCAA tournament.
• Tyler McKelvie, Tyler Reilly, and Bryan Rotatori each netted a hat-trick for Keene State.  Rotatori also set up six goals, tying the single game record and previously done twice, by Ben Bradley in 2003 and Tony Santa Fe in 2008.
• John Uppgren paced Tufts with five goals and three assists.  Connor Bilby, Austin Carbone, and Jake Gillespie each had three for the Jumbos.
• Alex Salazar made 13 saves in the Tufts net.

First Half Highlights

• Keene State took a 1-0 lead when Rotatori set up Reilly 2:26 into the game for a quick goal.  Tufts responded with consecutive markers from Uppgren and Gillespie, but Rotatori scored with a man-advantage, followed by another from Hunter Arnold for a 3-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.
• The Jumbos used goals 1:15 apart in the second quarter, first from Connor Bilby, the second from Kyle Howard-Johnson to take a 4-3 lead.  Rotatori had a hand in the next three for Keene State, netting two unassisted goals before setting up Rob Hart for a man-up goal with 6:23 left and a 6-4 advantage.
• Tufts responded, as Uppgren fed Bilby, then Gillespie scored unassisted to tie the game at six.  Tufts was whistled for two non-releaseable penalties, as the Owls made them pay when Rotatori set up McKelvie with 44 seconds left as the Owls led 7-6 at halftime.

Second Half Highlights

• The Jumbos started to take over in the second half, scoring four of the first five goals to take a 10-8 lead. Reilly scored off a Rotatori pass to get the Owls within 10-9.
• Tufts continued to pull away, as Howard-Johnson sandwiched a pair of goals around another from Conor Helfrich to push the lead out to 13-9.  Keene State pulled back to within two on an unassisted tally from Arnold and another goal from Reilly, but Uppgren set up Austin Carbone, then scored himself for a 15-11 lead at the end of three.
• McKelvie scored twice in the fourth quarter to get KSC back within 16-13.  Tufts scored the final five goals of the game to set the final margin.