DANBURY, Conn. – The No. 4 seed Keene State College men's lacrosse team traveled down to take on the No. 1 seed Western Connecticut State University Wolves on Thursday night, with a trip to the LEC championship on the line. After being outscored, 8-0, to open the first half, the Owls pulled within three in the third quarter, but the Wolves would hold them off in the end for a 11-9 victory to end the Owls' season.

Records

• Keene State: 7-9
• Western Connecticut State: 13-4

How it Happened


The opening quarter was all WCSU, as they dominated the Owls in all aspects of the game. They outshot KSC, 9-6, and although the Owls were able to muster six shots, none of them were on target, compared to six of such from the Wolves. A pair of the Wolves' three goals came in the opening 5:09 of the contest, as Cody Suhr and Tristan McMahon each scored for WCSU. The final goal of the quarter for the Wolves came from Tyler Starrett, as he scored a man-up goal with 4:49 remaining. The Owls were unable to capitalize on an extra-man opportunity through the remainder of the quarter, as WCSU took a 3-0 lead into the second.
 
The Owls were able to get their first shot on goal, 41 seconds into the second, but the Wolves' goalkeeper, Brendan Grove was able to make the save in net. After KSC's goalkeeper, Charlie Giuliotti made two more saves (to go with his three from the first quarter), Benjamin Hawthorne was able to sneak a shot past him, to put the Wolves up, 4-0, with 8:30 remaining in the first half. Giacomo Tedone nearly put the Owls on the board 49 seconds later, but after his shot hit the post, Hawthorne found the back of the net again for the Wolves to increase their lead to five. Across the final 5:42 of the opening half, WCSU recorded three more goals, coming from Julian Duque, McMahon, and another from Duque, to put the Wolves up 8-0 heading into halftime, as the Owls' three shots in the final 30 seconds of the half, all went wide of the net.
 
The Owls completely flipped the script from the second to the third quarter, as this time, they outscored the Wolves 5-0. Following a save from Giuliotti, Tedone got payback for his shot that previously hit the post with the Owls first goal of the game, which came from Colby Quiet, 2:04 into the half. The Owls' second goal came after Tim Souza caused a turnover, which resulted in Andrew Miller scoring for KSC. Just over two minutes later, the Owls tallied another goal, as Jeff Wiedenfeld assisted Chris Adriaansen for KSC's third consecutive goal. The final two goals of the quarter came 1:09 apart, as Miller assisted Souza for KSC's fourth goal, and Quiet scored the fifth. After KSC's five goals and a pair of saves from Giuliotti in net over the final 2:09 of the quarter, WCSU held onto an 8-5 lead heading into what would be the final 15 minutes of the season for one of the teams.
 
The final quarter was the highest scoring quarter of the day, as both teams combined for seven goals over the final 15 minutes. The three of the seven all came from WCSU, as they were able to increase their lead to 11-5 over the Owls, over the opening 6:59 of the quarter. The first two of the three came from each Suhr and Starrett and then following a pair of saves from Grove, WCSU tallied on their other goal, as Peter Traina gave them the six-goal lead. 26 seconds after Traina's goal, KSC responded right back, as Nicholas McNulty scored his first career collegiate goal, with Jaheim Lancaster picking up the assist. Just over a minute later, the Lancaster picked up his second point, this time scoring a goal, to bring the Owls within four with 6:17 remaining. KSC continued to score goals, as they scored their third in a row shortly after, as Colby Cala caused a turnover on defense for the Owls, which resulted in Quiet assisting Tedone for another goal, to pull KSC within three with 5:01 remaining. Cala then caused another turnover on the Wolves after they won the ensuing faceoff, which led to Wiedenfield scoring, 18 seconds after Tedone's goal, to bring the Owls within a pair of goals. Unfortunately for the Owls, that would up being the final goal scored of the season, as they would have four turnovers the rest of the game, with no shot attempts, as WCSU would hold burn most of the time on their way to picking up their 11-9 win over Keene State.
 
Inside the Crease

• With the loss, the Owls fall to 21-6 in the all-time series between the two teams, as KSC has lost the four most recent meetings, with two being the regular season losses and the other two being post-season losses to the Wolves.
• Quiet finished with a team-high of three points, coming from a goal and three assists. He ends his career ranked 23 for the most career points in program history, with 129, coming from 92 goals, which is the 18th most in program history and 37 assists.
• Dylan Fadale and Colby Cala each recorded a pair of caused turnovers for the Owls in the contest. Cala finishes his career with 60 caused turnovers, the fifth most in program history.
• The Owls outshot the Wolves, 47-32, although only 18 of them were on target, compared to 22 from WCSU.
• Both goalies finished with a .500 SV%, as Giuliotti made 11 saves in net, while allowing 11 goals, and Grove made nine saves and allowed nine goals.
• Both teams split the faceoffs, 12-12, while KSC struggled to take advantage of the three extra-man opportunities they were given, going 0-3.

 
Up Next


After the Owls improved to 5-0 to start off LEC play on the season, they dropped the next three and fell to the No. 4 seed for the LEC Tournament. After beating No.5 Eastern Connecticut State University at the Owl Athletic Complex on Tuesday night, their season comes to a close after falling to Western Connecticut State on Thursday night.
Thank you to all of the seniors that have been a part of the program here at Keene State and we wish you the best of luck in your future adventures.