WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – First-team All-Little East Conference senior defender Larson Richards (Mansfield) converted a penalty kick in the first half for the only goal as third-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University escaped with a first-round men's soccer playoff victory over sixth-seeded Keene State College Tuesday afternoon at Thomas Nevers Field.
 
Defending LEC champion Eastern (12-5-2) faces second-seeded and host University of Massachusetts Boston (9-5-3) in Thursday semifinals, with that winner advancing to the LEC championship game Saturday at the site of the highest remaining seed. In Thursday's other semifinal, No. 5 Rhode Island College visits top-seeded and undefeated (19-0-1) Western Connecticut State University at 7 p.m. Rhode Island upended No. 4 Castleton University, 4-1, Tuesday at Castleton, VT after the teams had tied (2-2) during the regular season at Providence, RI.

UMass Boston defeated Eastern, 3-1, during the regular season at Nevers Field in the conference opener for both teams, scoring three times in the second half. The win over Eastern was UMass's second straight during a six-game (5-0-1) unbeaten streak during an 8-1-1 streak. The Beacons are 0-2-1 in their last three matches, losing at home, 1-0, to Castleton in their regular-season finale.
 

Eastern won for the fourth straight time and for the seventh time in its last eight games. The Warriors' only losses since Oct. 1 were 1-0 decisions to defending national champion Connecticut College on the road and to nationally-ranked Babson College at Nevers Field.
 
Tuesday, Eastern was awarded the penalty kick after senior midfielder Andres Mayuri (West Hartford) was taken down making a run inside the box. Richards cleanly drove the PK low and inside the right post, just out of the reach of Keene State senior keeper Anthony Pasciuto. Mayuri, senior defender Jared Caroline (South Windsor) and senior forward Ryan Sirois (Tolland) were Eastern's only returning players when second-seeded Keene State blanked top-seeded Eastern, 1-0, in the 2019 LEC title game at Rick McCarthy Field.
 
Eastern collected nine of its game total of 11 shots in the first half but could not expand the lead following Richards' fourth goal of the season. Eastern totalled nine of the game's ten corner kicks, with Keene's only corner coming midway through the second half, but Eastern rose for a header than knocked Keene senior midfielder Vance Bates' attempt out of the box.
 
It marks the fourth straight time that Eastern and Keene have played to a 1-0 outcome in LEC playoff competition, Eastern winning for the second time. In eight LEC playoff games in the series, the winning team has not allowed the loser a goal.
 
Trailing at halftime, Keene had the first two chances of the second half to score (neither team had a shot until midway through the second half) before Eastern countered with at least three opportunities to extend the lead, but came up empty each time. The best Eastern chance came with 14 minutes left when Mayuri hit the cross bar from close range and Keene freshman defender Keiron Murray cleared the ball out of danger.
 
For Keene, senior sent a header off a cross from senior midfielder Declan Coughlin (Rome, Italy) on the first real chance of the second half. Later in the half in a span of three minutes, Keene had a pair of opportunities. Eastern junior keeper Dylan Pallanck (Willington), who stopped two shots in the game to record his first full shutout of the year,  denied Keene freshman forward Nicholas Henao Vasquezwith a save at the left post, and minutes later Keene season scoring leader Mbambi Mbungu drove a dangerous shot just wide of the left post.
 
With the score still at 1-0, Keene had two more chances in the final six minutes. On the first Coughlin beat an Eastern defender to the end line and sent a cross from the right side across the box that went untouched. The Owls' last chance came with three minutes left, but Pallanck dove headlong at the left post to turn away a bid by Bates.
 
Pasciuto made all six of his saves in the first half, one coming on Eastern junior defender Jaren Haddock's (South Windsor) long drive that the keeper hauled in while standing on the goal line. Pasciuto also kept the Eastern lead at one goal with six minutes left in the first half when he saved first-year midfielder Anton Smith's (Plymouth, NH) shot, then was fortunate when Sirois hit the crossbar on the follow. With two minutes left in the half, Sirois' maneuvered around two Keene defenders but his drive from close range was kicked out by Pasciuto.
 
Keene, which features 22 freshmen and sophomores on its roster, ends the season on a six-game (0-5-1) losing streak. The Owls had dropped a 3-2 home decision to Eastern during the regular season on Oct. 1.