KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College men's lacrosse team scored eight unanswered goals in the second half en route to a 13-5 win over Nichols College Wednesday at the Owl Athletic Complex. The Owls' 13 goals are the most the team has scored in a game so far this season.
 
Records

• Keene State: 2-4
• Nichols: 6-3

Postgame Interview (Coach Theriault)
Postgame Interview (Rex Maccarini)
 
How it Happened
The Bison began the scoring at the 10:45 mark in the first quarter on an unassisted goal by junior attacker Colby Gillis. Sophomore attacker Rex Maccarini would respond for the Owls a few minutes later with his own unassisted goal at the 6:30 mark, setting the stage for a back-and-forth contest between the two teams. Nichols got a late goal from a quick shot by sophomore Jack Ellis near the net, with an assist by graduate attacker Hunter Ferreira, to take a 2-1 lead heading into the second.
 
Keene State got even with Nichols in the second quarter after sophomore midfielder Jeff Wiedenfeld fed sophomore attacker Connor Woods the ball from outside the crease. Woods then took the ball into the crease before firing in his eighth goal of the season to tie the game at two at 12:54. Then at 5:59, sophomore midfielder Ben Tukey took a pass from freshman midfielder Sebastian Foresi and scored his first collegiate goal to put the Owls ahead 3-2 heading into halftime.
 
The scoring would pick up in the second half, starting with a goal by Woods with an assist from Maccarini 49 seconds into the third quarter. With Keene State up 4-2, Nichols responded with a goal by sophomore attacker CJ Cadigan to cut the deficit to one at 13:12. Foresi then recorded his second goal of the season at 11:52 after he sprinted into the box and fired a shot past sophomore goalkeeper Brady Morgan.
 
Nichols then scored two straight goals, courtesy of graduate attacker Cian Keohane and Cadigan to tie the game at five with 6:24 left in the third quarter. Keene State took control from there.
 
The Owls began their scoring run with two goals in the final minute of the third from junior midfielder Colby Quiet and Wiedenfeld. Up 7-5 heading into the fourth quarter, KSC picked up six more goals in the final frame. Two of them came from Maccarini, while the rest were scored by Woods, Quiet, senior attacker Cooper Cioffi and junior defender Colby Cala. Wiedenfeld added two more assists to his stat sheet during the quarter on both goals by Maccarini, while Maccarini, freshman midfielder Cole Ricardi and senior midfielder Michael Sheridan each picked up an assist. Junior goalkeeper Charlie Giuliotti finished off the contest by making 12 saves as Keene State got its second win in its last three games.
 
Inside the Crease

• Keene State has now won all five of its games in its history against Nichols, with the Owls outscoring the Bison 67-37.
• Maccarini and Woods each finished the game with a hat trick, making it the second time this season that multiple Owls scored at least three goals in a game. In KSC's 12-11 win in overtime against Rivier University on March 5, Quiet scored four goals while junior attacker Andrew Miller scored three.
• Wiedenfeld's three assists, a career high for him, are the most by a Keene State player in a game this season.
• Maccarini's five points are also the most in a game by a Keene State player so far this season.

 
Up Next
Keene State hosts Massachusetts Maritime Academy in its first Little East Conference game of the season on Saturday, March 25 at 1 p.m. at the Owl Athletic Complex. Nichols will return home to take on Salve Regina University on Wednesday, March 29 at 7 p.m.