Box Score KEENE, N.H. – Two years ago, the Eastern Connecticut State University men's lacrosse team avenged a regular-season defeat at the hands of Keene State College to defeat the top-seeded Owls on their home field to capture its eighth title in the 13-year history of the championship.
Hoping for a similar outcome this year, No. 2 –seeded Eastern (8-7) was outscored 8-1 over the first 19 minutes of the match and never got closer than six the rest of the way in a 23-12 loss to top-seeded Keene (12-4) in the 12th finals meeting (seventh straight) between the programs in the last 13 years (Keene leads the finals series 7-5) Saturday afternoon at the Owls Athletic Complex.
Coming off a 13-9 semifinal victory over No. 3 Plymouth State University Thursday, Eastern had a four-game winning streak ended with the loss while Keene won for the ninth straight time. The Owls (12-4) average just over 17 goals per match this year, with five of their victories during their nine-game streak coming by 20 goals or more.
For Keene Saturday, sophomore attack Bryan Rotatori scored a game-high five goals, and senior midfielder Ryan Hart – named tournament MVP -- totaled four goals and two assists in the final after contributing three goals and three assists in Thursday's 17-7 semifinal win over Western Connecticut State University.
Senior attack Chris Barnett (Wilton) and junior midfielder Liam Murphy (Dover, NH) each finished with three goals for the Warriors, while freshman attack Dane Heckmann (Brookfield) and freshman attack Matthew Rougeout (Cheshire) registered two scores. Junior goalie Blake Smaldone (Hamilton, MA) -- the LEC leader in saves per game – stopped 20 shots. It marked the fourth time in the last nine outings that he has made at least 20. Keene junior Dylan Florian stopped 14 shots for his 12th win of the year.
Eastern allowed Keene 57 shots but stopped the hosts on all seven of their man-up opportunities. The Owls turned the ball over only 14 times, however.
The Owls were able to neutralize junior attack Tim Reilly (Hanover, MA), the team's most effective sniper the last two weeks. After scoring 19 goals in the team's previous four wins, Reilly was kept in check without a goal managing but two shots.
Sophomore midfielder Jesse Schulze (Croton-on-Hudson, NY) won 20 of 32 faceoffs for Eastern, picking up the ground ball himself eight times.
