Box Score

KEENE, N.H.- The Keene State men's lacrosse team took the field as the number two seed in the Little East Conference men's lacrosse tournament and matchup up with the three seeded Colonials of Western Connecticut State, who defeated Castleton University in the quarterfinals to move into the semifinals. West Conn collected the first eight of ten goals in the contest and held on at the end of the game to defeat Keene State and move into the LEC championship game. KSC falls to an LEC foe for just the first time since 2012 after running a perfect record through the league for seven consecutive seasons. 
 
Records

• Keene State: 5-1
• Western Connecticut State: 6-2

How it Happened
Things did not start off on the right foot for Keene State as they fell behind quickly in the contest. Donald Schaumloffel netted the game's opening tally to give the Colonials the 1-0 lead. Keene State would quickly fight back however, as freshman Colby Quiet got the Owls on the board to even the scoring. Western Connecticut would roar back with the final five goals of the first quarter. The Colonials leading scoring on the season Eric Caldwell started things off by scoring goal numbers 23 and 24 on the season to give Western the two-goal lead. Caldwell was followed by Trey Aronow who scored on an even strength tally. Donald Schaumloffel would net his hat trick with 2:34 to go in the first quarter putting Western Connecticut up 6-1. Keene State trailed after one quarter of play for the first time all season.
 
Western Connecticut looked to pour on the goals in the second half and put the game away early on the Owls, shutting down the offense of Keene State as well. WCSU picked up an additional two goals to start the second quarter as Eric Caldwell picked up his first goal of the quarter on a feed from Benjamin Hawthrone followed up by an unassisted tally for Caldwell picking up his fourth goal of the game. The Owls saw themselves down 8-1 with 4:31 to play in the second quarter when Nathan Sickles would pick up Keene State's only goal of the quarter, ending the half with an 8-2 deficit for KSC. Goalkeeper Charlie Giuliotti made his first career start for Keene State picking up 15 first half saves to keep the Owls in the game. Perry Cassidy made seven saves for Western on the other side of the field. In the half, Western Connecticut outshot Keene 31-11 with WCSU going 2-4 on the man advantage. Keene State would be strong in the faceoff circle, losing just one draw out of nine chances in the opening 30 minutes. Keene would also scoop 15 ground balls, five more than Western Connecticut in the half. 
 
Scoring in the opening ten minutes of the third quarter was scarce. Giuliotti and Perry made saves for their teams to keep both the offenses off the board with Keene State remaining down by six goals. Although down by six, KSC could not get the first goal of the third quarter as Timothy Yannucci broke the ice with 4:49 to play in the quarter to give West Conn their biggest lead of the game, a seven-goal advantage. Keene wasted little time to get on the board in an attempt to get back in the contest as Cooper Cioffi netted a goal for the Owls, his first of the game and 12^th of the season to start to close the gap for KSC. Eric Caldwell for Western Connecticut would tally the Colonials final goal of the quarter to put Western ahead by six again. With just 46 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Colin Ford would score his 6^th goal of the season to bring the Owls deficit to five goals heading into the final quarter of the game. 
 
Keene State would score three goals in a span of 1:01 to give the Owls life after being down by as many as seven goals in the LEC semifinal game. Justin Norris got the scoring started for the Owls with 12:35 to go in the fourth, followed by goals from the Owls leading scorer on the season Joe Nutting, and a tally from the Owls freshman Colby Quiet to give KSC just a three-goal deficit. Western Connecticut took just one minute to respond to the Quiet goal when Benjamin Hawthrone scored his eight goal of the season and first of the game, putting West Conn ahead by four goals again. While a man up, Keene took advantage as Nathan Sickles found a cutting Quiet to give the Owls a two-goal deficit with 5:50 remaining. The Owls made the game interesting, scoring another tally with 1:07 to go in the game making the Colonials lead just one goal. Keene State was able to win the faceoff in the circle following the Cioffi goal, but the Owls turned the ball over on a pass with 30 seconds to go and Western Connecticut was able to successfully clear the ball and watch the clock elapse as the Colonials knocked off the Owls 11-10. KSC falls in the LEC semifinal round for the first time since 2008, making a streak of 12 straight seasons with an LEC Championship appearances snap for the Owls.

Inside the Crease

• Keene State drops their first game of the season after sweeping through their shortened five game schedule this season. Keene State defeated Western Connecticut in their first game of the season 17-5 from the West Side Athletic Complex on March 27. Keene State falls to Western for the first time since 2008, when Western Connecticut defeated Keene in the LEC semifinals. The Owls fall in their only home game of the year. Their last home win came in the LEC Championship game on May 4, 2019 after dropping two home games in 2020 before the season was halted. 
• Freshman goalie Charlie Giuliotti finished his night with 23 saves, the most by any KSC goalie this season. Giuliotti started for the first time in an Owl uniform tonight after making two prior appearances in relief for KSC. 
• Eric Caldwell led the way for Western netting five goals and picking up one assist in the win. Caldwell took ten shots, with nine going to goal while scooping up a ground ball.
• A three-goal night for Colby Quiet lead the way for the Owls as Quiet picked up six shots, with five on goal. Quiet was enormously successful in the faceoff circle, winning 16 of 18 faceoffs in the game and collected 11 groundballs. 
• Western Connecticut moves into the LEC Championship game for the first time since 2008 when they were crowned LEC Champions for the first time in their program's history. 
• In total, Western Connecticut outshot Keene State 50-32, while Keene State scooped 36 ground balls to the Colonials 20. The Owls were outstanding in the faceoff circle, winning 19-21 draws while both teams were all around successful in clears. Western Connecticut went 26-27 with Keene State having just one extra blemish, going 22-24. 

Up Next

• Keene State wraps up the season with a 5-1 record. The Owls had won the last six LEC Championships. 
• Western Connecticut will hit the road to face off against the number one seeded Beacons of UMass-Boston after the Beacons were able to easily take care of Plymouth State this evening, defeating the Panthers 17-9. UMass-Boston returns to the LEC Championship game for the first time since 2017, looking for their programs first LEC Championship and automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.