MEMPHIS, TN – On the first of two games for the Keene State College men's lacrosse team's spring break trip the Owls traveled down to take on Rhodes College, and after a close first half, the game slipped away from KSC in the second as RC scored 10 goals in the second to hand the Owls the 16-9 defeat.

Records

• Keene State: 2-3
• Rhodes: 5-4

How it Happened


RC's starting goalkeeper, Blake Jeska, made four saves in goal for the Lynx to open the contest over the opening 6:23 of the contest, allowing his team to take a 2-0 lead on the other side of the field. After going down early, the Owls responded with three goals over the ensuing 2:22 to take the lead for the first time of the day. Following Jack Ricci winning the ensuing faceoff following RC's second goal of the day, Adam Scala tallied his first point of the day with a goal 19 seconds later. The Lynx won the ensuing faceoff, but Ricci caused a turnover leading to another goal for the Owls as Nicholas McNulty tied the game up for KSC 33 seconds after Scala's goal. 1:30 later KSC took the lead following a save by Andrew Wiegand in goal for the Owls as Jake Dubiel scored on the other end of the field to put the Owls ahead. The remaining 6:15 of the first quarter the Owls killed off a 30 second penalty and Wiegand made his third and fourth saves of the quarter to maintain the Owls' 3-2 lead heading into the second quarter.
 
Both goalkeepers made a pair of saves in the opening five minutes of the second quarter, but RC was able to sneak three shots past Wiegand as the Lynx retook the lead and went up 5-3 early in the second quarter. Following another save by each goalkeeper over the next few minutes, KSC pulled within one as Jeska saved a shot from Dylan Seymour, but Scala collected the ground ball and then picked up an assist by passing the ball to Jaheim Lancaster for the goal with 7:49 remaining in the second. The rest of the opening half RC increased their lead back to two with another goal with 3:51 remaining, and with Jeska making three saves, the Owls were unable to get closer before halftime.
 
Wiegand opened the second half up with a pair of saves before the Owls cut RC's lead to one as Nicholas Hadley assisted Jack Ansart's goal 3:06 into the third quarter. It did not take long for Rhodes to increase the lead again as they answered back with a goal 45 seconds later after winning the ensuing faceoff and tacked on another goal to increase the lead to 8-5, 2:06 later. With 5:54 remaining in the third Sebastian Foresi brought KSC within a pair, but the rest of the third quarter the Lynx outscored the Owls, 4-1, with Scala assisting Ansart for his second goal of the game, as RC took a 12-7 lead into the final 15 minutes of regulation.
 
Despite two penalties over the opening 10 minutes of the final quarter for Rhodes, the Lynx still controlled the game as they outscored KSC 4-0 to increase their lead to 16-7 with a few minutes remaining in regulation. The rest of the way Scala tacked on two more points as he assisted on McNulty's goal and then Season Bosworth's goal, bringing the final to 16-9 favoring the Lynx.
 
Inside the Crease

• Scala led the Owls on the attack with a collegiate career-high five points on the day as he scored a goal to go with four assists (another collegiate career-high).
• Wiegand made 13 saves in goal over his 60 minutes of action in net, while Jeska made 11 saves for Rhodes in his 52:15 in goal.
• Ty Cougler caused seven turnovers on defense for the Owls, the most in the Little East Conference in a single game this season, beating his previous LEC-high five caused turnovers in a game earlier in the year, to go with his eight ground balls on the day.
• Rhodes had the slight advantage on faceoffs in the game as KSC went 13-for-29 (44.8%).
• KSC had the better game on clears, going 19-for-23 (82.6%), while RC went 21-for-27 (77.8%).

 
Up Next


Keene State has the second game of their spring break trip for their next contest as the Owls take on Centenary (La.) on Tuesday, March 17, at 3:00 PM.
Rhodes College moves to conference play in their next game as the Lynx travel to take on Berry College on Saturday, March 21, at 12:00 PM.