Box Score
MANSFIELD, Conn. – The Keene State College women's lacrosse team scored two man-up goals and a man-down goal during a run of seven straight that began five minutes into the second quarter and powered the Owls to a 14-6 victory over Eastern Connecticut State University on the final day of the Little East Conference regular season Saturday afternoon at Rick McCarthy Field.
 
With its eighth straight win over Eastern (four of them at McCarthy Field), Keene (11-5, 5-2 LEC) earns the second seed and a first-round Little East playoff bye into the Thursday's semifinals. Eastern (8-8, 5-2 LEC), which entered action one game up on Keene, settles for the third seed and will host No. 6 University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (9-7, 2-5 LEC) in a first-round matchup Tuesday in its first LEC home match in six years. Picked for fifth in the LEC coaches' pre-season poll, the Warriors share second place with Keene after fifth-place finishes each of the past four years. Eastern last finished in second place in 2018, when it went on to reach the LEC playoff title game.
 
Eastern had converted consecutive free-position shots by junior midfielder Abby Parisi (Fairfield) and sophomore attack Alexa Vizzini (Vernon, NJ) a minute apart in the opening minutes of the second quarter to tie the game, but the Owls answered with their run over seven straight goals to break the only tie and record their fourth win in five matches this year on their opponents' turf.
 
Sophomore midfielder Tess Brown and junior attack Lola Smith either scored or assisted on each of those decisive seven goals that lifted Keene into an 11-4 lead with six minutes left in the third quarter. Smith had two goals and three assists and Brown two goals in that scoring run.
 
After Brown gave Keene the lead for good, 5-4 with an unassisted goal to start the scoring spurt, Smith connected on a man-up marker and later, senior midfielder Mindy St. Marie struck for another man-up score, and Brown followed with a man-down goal to start the third quarter and make it 10-4.
 
Keene's aggressive defense forced 24 turnovers and helpd the Warriors to a season-low 62 percent clearing percentage (13-of-21).
 
Brown scored five goals to give her 49 on the season, with senior midfielder Haile Ratajack adding two goals and an assist to push her team-leading totals to 66 goals and 81 points. Smith added two goals and three assists for Keene, which held a 31-21 edge in shots.
 
Eastern, whose only LEC losses have come to Keene and unbeaten regular-season champion Western Connecticut, got three goals from Vizzini – which give her 45 this year. She was Eastern's only player with more than one.
 
Parisi won seven draws in helping the Warriors to a +1 edge in that category, senior midfielder Kaylee Drobish (Wallingford) caused three turnovers, and junior defender Addison Twohill (Hamden) picked up three ground balls.
 
In addition to her scoring, Brown caused three turnovers for Keene, and Ratajack and St. Marie combined to win nine of their team's 11 draws.
 
Keene sophomore goalie Mabelle Bessette stopped ten shots, while Eastern senior Mackenzie Brown (Southington) made nine saves.
 
Following the game, five of Eastern's seniors were recognized on Senior Day: Brown, Drobish, Chloe Miller (Avon), Kate Barner (Southington) and Christina diBenedetto (Stratford).
 
A first-round win over UMass Dartmouth would move Eastern into a semifinal-round match at Keene on Thursday. Eastern has won eight straight over UMass Dartmouth – including 21-8 on the road in its LEC opener March 29.