KEENE, N.H.--The Keene State College men's lacrosse team clinched their eighth Little East Conference regular season championship and the No. 1 seed the upcoming LEC tournament with a 15-11 comeback win over Eastern Connecticut State University on Senior Night at Owl Athletic Complex.

Records

• Keene State: 12-3, 7-0 LEC
• Eastern Connecticut State: 9-6, 5-2 LEC

Up Next

• Both teams will take part in the LEC tournament.  As mentioned, Keene State will be the No. 1 seed, and will host a semifinal matchup on May 5 at Owl Athletic Complex.  The Warriors will be the No. 2 seed, and will also receive a bye into the semifinal round.  
• The full LEC bracket will be released on littleeast.com this weekend.

Tale of The Tape

• The Owls recovered from a slow start to post a come-from-behind win.  Bryan Rotatori had four goals and two assists, while Tyler McKelvie and Hunter Arnold each scored three times, and Rob Hart and Paul Beling netted twice.
• Alex Sharp came off the bench to make eight saves in 36 minutes of action, including a pair of point blank stops in the fourth quarter.
• Liam Murphy led the Warriors with four goals.  Nick Fernandes had three, while Michael Dellano had a goal and five assists.
• ECSU's standout was goalkeeper Blake Smaldone, who made 25 saves and kept the Owls' offense in check for much of the game.

First Half Highlights

• Eastern Connecticut scored the first goal of the game with an unassisted goal from Murphy, but the Owls responded with a marker from McKelvie off the next faceoff.  
• Hunter Arnold gave the Owls the lead with 6:07 left in the first quarter, but Dellano and Murphy scored for a 3-2 lead before Arnold scored again to tie it at the end of one.
• ECSU opened the second quarter on a year, netting the first three goals of the frame to open up a 6-3 lead.  McKelvie scored again to get KSC within two, but the Warriors, taking advantage of three minutes of KSC penalties in the period, got man-up goals from Vasquez and Fernandes for an 8-4 advantage.
• Beling pulled KSC back within three by scoring unassisted with 2:42 left. 

Second Half Highlights

• Murphy extended the lead to 9-5 with a goal 80 seconds into the third quarter, but the Warriors would not score again the period.  Rotatori and McKelvie scored unassisted goals to pull within two, and consecutive man-up goals from Arnold and Rotatori tied the game at nine.
• Rob Hart scored the next KSC goal, then set up Rotatori with 1:53 left in the third period for an 11-9 lead.
• Tim Reilly scored 17 seconds into the fourth quarter to get the Warriors within one.  KSC slowly pulled away, with a goal from Rotatori making it 12-10, and Arnold scoring the next for a three goal advantage.
• Another goal from Tim Reilly made it 13-11 with 2:55 left, but the Owls chewed up the clock, salting away the win with goals from Tyler Reilly and Beling.