KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State men's lacrosse team returned home on Friday afternoon to host the Fighting Scots of Gordon College. Still looking for their first win on the season, Keene State handled business and took down Gordon, 12-9, thanks to four goals and a pair of assists from
Jack Ansart, for the first win for the Owls on the season.
Records
- Keene State: 1-4
- Gordon: 1-2
Postgame Interview (Coach Theriault)
Postgame Interview (Jack Ansart)
How it Happened
Both the opening and closing quarters of the contest would be slow, with the middle pair being packed with a ton of goals. Only two goals were scored in the first, as Gordon took the lead with 6:21 left in the first, thanks to a man-up goal from Marco Fernandez. KSC answered back a few minutes later by tying the game up at one apiece after
Colby Quiet picked off a Gordon pass on a clear attempt and took it himself and fired a shot into the back of the net for the Owls. Gordon goalkeeper, Colin Liscomb, made two more saves in the quarter, while
Charlie Giuliotti made one for the Owls, to keep the score 1-1 after one.
Early in the second, Gordon tried to retake the lead with three shots on goal, as Giuliotti was able to save the first two, but Jackson Wright was able to sneak the third shot past to put the Scots back ahead. 53 seconds later, KSC evened it out at two, following a Pereira faceoff win, as
Giacomo Tedone assisted Ansart for his first goal of the game. Ansart added two more goals, both man-up, with the second coming from
Rex Maccarini with 8:59 in the half. Gordon then netted three games of their own, as Ryan Arthur netted a man-up goal, followed by another man-up goal, coming from Fernandez, and then finally a goal from John Flemmi for the go-ahead goal for the Scots, with 3:36 before halftime.
Andrew Miller tied the game up at five apiece with 1:24 to go, as the score would hold heading into halftime of the contest.
The Owls started the second half on fire, as they scored five consecutive goals to open the half. Tedone netted the first of the five, at 13:07, while
Jaheim Lancaster assisted on the second, to
Sebastian Foresi, shortly following a save by Giuliotti in net. Following a caused turnover by
Ty Cougler on defense for KSC, it led to Miller assisting Ansart for a goal on the other end of the field. KSC defense again shut down the Scots later in the quarter, as
Colby Cala caused a turnover for the Owls that led to
Dylan Seymour netting a man-up transition goal from Ansart with 3:54 left in the quarter. After
Jack Ricci won the ensuing faceoff for the Owls, he collected the ground ball, taking off towards Gordon's net and dished the ball off to Miller, who fired the shot into the back of the net, for the Owls' second goal in just seven seconds. After being held scoreless for a majority of the third, Gordon responded by netting three goals to pull within a pair to round out the quarter. Wright netted the first of the three, a man-up goal with 2:13 left in the third, followed by Caden Lake netting another man-up goal as the penalty was expiring for the Owls. Flemmi netted the final goal of the quarter, as KSC held their 10-8 lead heading into the final 15 minutes of play.
After each team netted a goal in the opening 4:12 of the fourth, it seemed like it would be a high scoring quarter, as the previous two had been; although after John Flemmi netted his third of the day 52 seconds in, and Foresi assisted Lancaster with 10:48 left to play, neither team scored until the Owls were able to with 14 seconds left in the contest. A large part of the low scoring was due to the goalie play, as Liscomb made four saves over the 10-minute span, while his offense was unable to help him out on the other hand of the field as Giuliotti made a pair of saves on the only two shots on goal from Gordon through the rest of the contest. Ansart picked up his sixth point in the final seconds, as he assisted
Connor Woods on the final goal, which was wide open as GC was attempting to cause a turnover and putting the final nail in the coffin as KSC held on for the 12-9 victory.
Inside the Crease
- With the win, Keene State improves to 2-0 all time against Gordon College, having defeated the Fighting Scots by a nearly identical score back on May 8, 2002, as the Owls won, 12-10.
- Ansart led all scorers in the contest, picking up six points, from his four goals and two assists, while nine other members of the team tallied at least a point. Only five members of the Fighting Scots tallied a point, as Flemmi, Fernandez, and Lake each tallied three points, with Wright and Arthur each logging a pair of points.
- The Owls were able to lock down the Gordon defense as nine different members of the team caused a turnover, including two by each Cougler, Cala, and Owen Keeley.
- Giuliotti logged double-digit saves for the third time on the season, tallying 11 in the contest, for a SV% of 55%.
- Keene Staten won the faceoff battle for the first time on the season, going 16-for-24 (66.7%), with Ricci going 10-15, Pereira going 4-6, and Quiet going 2-3.
Up Next
Keene State's next game will be at home for their final non-conference game of their 2024 season, as they will host Bates College on Wednesday, March 6, at 5:00 PM.
Gordon College will next play on their Spring Break trip, as they will play against Cairn University in Langhorne, Pa. on Wednesday March 6, at 12:00 PM.
