Box Score KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College men's lacrosse team won its third straight Little East Conference championship, defeating Eastern Connecticut State University in the title game for the third straight year, 22-8, Saturday afternoon at the Owl Athletic Complex.
A winner of 11 straight, top-seeded Keene (14-3) qualifies automatically after winning its seventh LEC playoff title, second only to No. 2 seed Eastern (10-7), which has claimed eight in the 16-year history of the tournament. Ranked No. 9 in New England, Keene has won 11 straight.
The Warriors and Owls were meeting in the final for the eighth straight year and for the 13th time in the last 14 years. Each had won six times prior to 2016. The Warriors have reached the title game 15 times in 16 seasons.
Keene scored the first five goals of the match, shutting out the Warriors for the first 16:23 before team senior team scoring leader Tim Reilly (Hanover, MA) broke through for Eastern. The Warriors trailed by four after senior Dan Vasquez (Newington) potted his only goal of the match with 2:28 left in the first half, but Keene took over the momentum for good with a 5-1 run that made it an eight-goal margin 90 seconds into the second half.
Eastern senior goalie Blake Smaldone (Hamilton, MA/Hyde (CT) School) stopped at least 20 shots for the third straight game – including 25 in the regular-season meeting with Keene and 21 in a 15-14 LEC playoff semifinal win over Plymouth State University Thursday. Smaldone made 21 saves against the Owls, who put 43 of their 64 shots on cage.
Junior midfielder Jesse Schulze (Croton-on-Hudson, NY) dominated at the faceoff X, winning 18-of-30 for the second straight playoff game, and improving upon his 9-for-23 effort in the regular-season loss to Keene last Friday.
Senior Liam Murphy (Dover, NH) reached the 30-goal plateau by contributing two goals, with Reilly going over the 30-goal plateau. Reilly also scored two to give him a team-high 32 this year, 88 in his three-year Eastern career. Vasquez chipped in four assists and led all non-faceoff players with five ground balls.
Eastern's man-down unit stopped eight of Keene's 11 extra-man tries.
Eastern senior
Michael Dellanno (Wakefield, MA), the team's season assist leader and second-leading point scorer, was hampered by injury and managed only one goal and three assists in two playoff matches.
After finishing 8-7 a year ago under first-year head coach Brian Tilley, Eastern won at least ten games this season for the 18th time in the program's 21-year history.
