KEENE, N.H. – 12 different Owls tallied a goal for the Keene State College men's lacrosse team on Saturday afternoon as KSC cruised to the 19-3 victory over the University of Southern Maine to move to 2-0 in Little East Conference action to open the 2026 season.

Records

• Keene State: 6-3 (2-0 LEC)
• Southern Maine: 2-6 (0-2 LEC)

Highlights
Postgame Interview (Coach Theriault)
Postgame Interview (Jake Dubiel/Ben Tukey)

How it Happened
Nick Pastusak made a pair of saves early in the contest for the Huskies, but the Owls sent their next two shots on frame into the back of the net as Adam Scala assisted Nicholas McNulty for a man-down goal to open the scoring and Jack Ansart assisted Dylan Seymour a minute later to put the Owls up 2-0 with 10:20 remaining in the first. Pastusak held strong in goal the rest of the opening quarter as he made four saves on the rest of the shots he faced, while Andrew Wiegand saved two of the three shots that he saw in net for the Owls across the opening quarter, bringing USM within a goal heading into the second quarter.
 
The Owls' attack was clicking early in the second quarter as Jake Dubiel opened the scoring 46 seconds into the quarter, followed by Cougler picking up a ground ball and finding the back of the net to score his fourth goal of the year 47 seconds later. KSC continued to pile on the goals early in the second quarter as they added four more goals over the next four minutes and four seconds of action to increase the lead to 8-2. Seymour opened the scoring run with his second goal of the game for the Owls' fifth goal before Ansart assisted Ben Tukey for the sixth goal 43 seconds later. KSC's final two goals of the quarter came 40 seconds apart as Caleb White assisted Scala and following Jack Ricci's faceoff win, Ansart scored KSC's eighth goal of the game with 9:23 remaining in the opening half. Pastusak made four saves in net the remainder of the half while the Owls' defense held strong causing four turnovers, including two from Cougler, to take the 8-1 lead into the halftime.
 
USM came out strong in the second half scoring a pair of goals in the opening five minutes of the quarter while Dax Morin made four saves in net for the Huskies after opening the second half in goal. It didn't take long for KSC to kill the momentum as 32 seconds later Seymour assisted Ansart for the goal and 1:22 later Seymour picked up another assist as Ben Tukey put KSC back ahead by seven. Even when the Owls' attack was not scoring, they were still making big plays as Ansart caused a turnover later in the quarter, leading to White assisting Cole Ricardi on a goal. Following a penalty called on the Owls' goal on USM, KSC started with the ball with there not being an ensuing faceoff which led to Ansart assisting Dubiel on a man-up goal just 21 seconds later. 57 seconds after Dubiel's goal, KSC added another man-up goal as Ansart assisted White for the goal to put the Owls up by 10. Despite the 10-goal lead the Owls did not let up yet as Ricci won the ensuing faceoff leading to White assisting Ethan Palma 41 seconds later, and Ricci winning another faceoff and Ansart assisting Seymour for the Owls' 15th goal of the game just seven seconds later. The rest of the 3:19 of the third quarter Morin bounced back and made two more saves as KSC took their 15-3 lead into the fourth quarter.
 
The fourth quarter went just as the second as KSC tallied a handful of goals, while shutting out USM over the 15 minutes of the quarter. Nick Sullivan continued to tally goals for the Owls as he scored his third goal in as many games to open the fourth quarter after causing a turnover on USM and having an open net for the easy goal 29 seconds into the fourth. 1:27 later KSC added another goal as the Owls scored their third man-up goal on the day with White assisting Dubiel for the goal with 13:04 remaining on the clock. The Owls cruised the rest of the way with Jaheim Lancaster assisting Sullivan for his second goal of the day and after the Owls killed off three penalties the rest of the quarter, Henry Frechette scored his first goal of the season with under a minute remaining to bring the final to 19-3 for the Owls.
 
Inside the Crease

• With the win KSC improves to 25-1 in the all-time series against USM, having won the 25 most recent matchups.
• Ansart led the Owls' attack with a new season-high seven points from two goals and five assists.
• Seymour and White both tallied five points apiece as Seymour scored three goals to go with a pair of assists, while White's season-high of five points came from a goal and four assists.
• 13 different Owls tallied a point for the second consecutive game.
• Wiegand made four saves in goal over his 41:41 of action, while Sam Giuliotti did not face a shot over his 18:19 in goal to close out the game for the Owls.
• Cougler led KSC's defense with three of the team's 20 caused turnovers, while Ansart, Seymour, Aidan Donohue, Nicholas Hadley, and Brady LeVasseur all caused two turnovers of their own.
• KSC had the edge again on faceoffs, going 17-for-25 (68%) with Ricci leading the way going 11-for-15 (73.3%).
• The Owls capitalized on all three of their man-up opportunities with three man-up goals, to go with their man-down goal, while USM went 1-for-10 on man-up opportunities.
• KSC went a perfect 19-for-19 on clears, while USM went 20-for-31 (64.5%) on their clear attempts.

 
Up Next


Keene State hits the road for their next contest as the Owls travel to take on the Massachusetts Maritime Academy at 12:00 PM on Saturday, April 4.
Southern Maine takes on Anna Maria College at back in Maine for their next contest in their final nonconference matchup of the year on Wednesday, April 1, at 4:00 PM.