KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College men's lacrosse team snapped a tie ten minutes into play by outscoring Eastern Connecticut State University by seven goals the remainder of the first half and went on to its 14^th straight Little East Conference victory over the Warriors, 20-10, Saturday afternoon at the Owl Athletic Complex.
 
Eastern (3-6, 1-1 LEC) was called for the first six penalties of the game over a span of 11 minutes in the second quarter, helping Keene (3-4, 1-0 LEC) score two man-up goals and move out to an 11-4 lead with just under five minutes left in the first half.
 
In all, the Warriors were called for ten minutes worth of penalties but their man-down team managed to kill off eight of the Owls' 12 man-up advantages. Eastern matched Keene with four extra-man goals, one by senior Garrett Lapham (Trumbull) with less than a minute left in the half, the second by sophomore Tim Lichack (Clinton) early in the second half, one by sophomore Brycen Kennedy (Southington) and one by first-year player Warren Channing (Glastonbury) in the fourth quarter.
 
Junior Zacharie Appolon (Stamford) and sophomore Dan Barron (Newington) scored a minute apart midway through the first quarter to tie the game, but the Warriors were only able to score consecutive goals only once thereafter, when Lichack scored his 12^th of the season and Kennedy his 16^th and 17^th that cut the Keene lead to 16-9 two minutes into the fourth quarter. Keene answered with three straight of its own, however, the final two in man-up situations 16 seconds apart that made it 19-9 midway through the final quarter.
 
Kennedy, Lichack and Channing all scored twice but were Eastern's only multiple-goal scorers. Junior Scott Galbo (East Lyme) won ten of 23 faceoffs, senior Ryan Stocks (Longmeadow, MA) picked up five ground balls and sophomore Cody Brown (Waterford) caused two turnovers.
 
Eastern senior Nick Collazo (Park Ridge, NJ), who has played all but five minutes in net this year, stopped 14 shots – one shy of his season-high.
 
Warriors Resume Series With Wheaton Wednesday

Eastern resumes its non-conference rivalry with Wheaton College Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Rick McCarthy Field. The Warriors are 8-1 all-time against the Lyons at home (12-4 all-time in all), losing 11-5 the last time the teams met on Eastern's home field in the last game played between the programs in 2017. Eastern won ten of the first 11 in the series and Wheaton has taken three of the last five.
 
Eastern and Wheaton (5-6) have both lost five of their last six this year. The teams have faced three common opponents. Both defeated Gordon College and lost to Roger Williams University. Eastern lost to Curry, 16-7, in its second match of the year while the Lyons edged the visiting Colonels, 6-5, February 26, holding the visitors scoreless over the final 22 minutes. Eastern has allowed 13.1 goals per match, Wheaton 10.9.
 
Wheaton features two 20+ goal scorers in Charlie Racine and Shane Ross while Kennedy leads the Warriors with 17, Lichack and Channing both with 12. Wheaton goalie John Drew has a 11.95 goals-against average and 51.6 save percentage while Collazo is at 13.02 and 40.5, respectively. Eastern holds a significant advantage at the faceoff X, with a team percentage of 47.3 Wheaton has won only 35.1 percent of its faceoffs, with Racine having taken all but 16 of 262 with a 35.8 winning percentage. Galbo has handled the majority of faceoffs for Eastern and shows a 47.9 success rate.