Box Score MANSFIELD, Conn. Four-time defending Little East Conference men's lacrosse champion Keene State College got points from 13 different players and outshot Eastern Connecticut State University by nearly 3-to-1 in rolling to its 41st straight LEC regular-season victory, 24-13, Friday afternoon at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex.
In the conference opener for both teams, Keene (4-4) raced to a 6-1 lead after one quarter and pushed the advantage to 13, 19-6, after three quarters before Eastern (4-5) got four back in the final four minutes of the match.
It marked the fourth straight time that Keene has scored at least 20 goals against Eastern, with the Owls taking their first lead in the series, 18-17, with their ninth straight victory over the Warriors. Keene has posted five straight perfect (7-0) conference regular seasons and Friday avenged its last LEC regular-season loss, that coming at the Mansfield Complex by a 14-11 score in 2012.
Seniors Jon Nassif (Hanover, MA) and Hunter Arnold (Boxborough, MA) and sophomore Dave Wiedenfeld (Londonderry, NH) all collected seven points in the win, with Nassif scoring six times and adding an assist, Wiedenfeld assisting six times and contributing a goal, and Arnold scoring four times and assisting on three goals. Arnold tops the team with 24 goals.
The Warriors made a mild run midway through the second quarter when junior Samuel Watson (Trumbull) scored twice and senior Connor Wyllie (Somers) once in a span of less than a minute that cut a seven-goal deficit to four, but Keene responded with the final three goals of the first half and first four of the second to re-build the lead to 11, 16-5, five minutes into the second half. Nassif totaled three of those goals and Arnold two and each chipped in an assist.
Nassif unloaded 15 shots on net to propel Keene to a 67-25 advantage in shots. Senior goalie Mathew Howe (Bedford, NH) stopped two shots over the first 43 minutes before departing with a 12-goal lead, which allowed his three backups to finish up.
Eastern freshman Connor Hillemeir (Farmington) won 15 of 25 faceoffs and recorded seven ground balls. Watson and Wyllie each had four goals to lead the Warriors. Matthew Lemke won 11 of 20 faceoffs for Keene and led the club with six ground balls.
The contest was the first of seven in the conference that closes out the season. Eastern hosts the University of Southern Maine Saturday at 1 p.m.
