Box Score LEC Playoff Bracket
KEENE, N.H. – The Eastern Connecticut State University men's lacrosse team surged to a four-goal lead in the opening minutes of the second half but was outscored by eight goals the rest of the way as Keene State College captured its third straight Little East Conference regular-season title with a 15-11 victory Friday night at the Owl Complex.
The undefeated conference regular season is the third straight for Keene (12-3, 7-0 LEC) and the win is the 33rd straight in conference regular-season play for the Owls since losing to Eastern (9-6, 5-2 LEC), 14-11, in April of 2012. Ranked eighth in New England and No. 20 nationally, the Owls have won nine straight. The loss is only the second in the last ten matches for Eastern.
At right: As he has throughout his career, senior goalie Blake Smaldone saved his best play for Keene State College, tying the program record which he shares wth 25 saves in a four-goal loss.
Top seed Keene and No. 2 Eastern were already assured earn first-round playoff byes prior to the match and will host conference semifinal-round matches Thursday, with the two semifinal winners advancing to the final at the site of the highest remaining seed. On Thursday, Eastern will host the winner of a first-round match between the No. 3 and No. 6 seeds, while Keene entertains the winner of the Tuesday's No. 4 and No. 5 seeds. The highest remaining seed hosts Saturday's championship game.
A five-goal second quarter lifted the Warriors into an 8-5 halftime lead, and a goal by senior Liam Murphy (Dover, NH) boosted Eastern's lead to 9-5 1:20 into the third. Keene did not allow another goal the rest of the quarter, scoring the final six of the frame to take an 11-9 lead into the final quarter.
Senior Tim Reilly (Hanover, MA) ended the Warriors long scoring drought with a man-up goal 17 seconds into the fourth on senior Michael Dellanno's (Wakefield, MA) that cut Keene's edge to one, but the hosts outscored the Warriors 4-1 the rest of the way to pull away to their fifth home win in six outings.
Keene outshot Eastern 64-33, but Eastern senior goalie Blake Smaldone (Hyde School, CT/Hamilton, MA) tied the career record that he shares by stopping 25 shots to keep the Warriors in contention. Murphy led Eastern with four goals, junior Nick Fernandes (Fairfield) adding three, Dellanno two goals and five assists and senior Dan Vasquez (Newington) a goal and two assists.
The Owls, who won 15 of 25 faceoffs, got four goals and two assists from Bryan Rotatori and three goals and an assist from Tyler McKelvie and Hunter Arnold.
