After a lackluster first quarter, the Keene State College men’s lacrosse team rallied back to defeat No. 8 Bowdoin College Tuesday, April 12.
Junior attackman Bryan Rotatori scored just 47 seconds into the game for the Owls before they were silenced offensively for the remainder of the first. Bowdoin’s first tally came off the stick of sophomore attack Brett Kujala to ignite a flurry of goals. First year midfielder Sam Carlin scored in unassisted fashion followed by a tally from junior attack Brandon Lee to give Bowdoin a 3-1 lead. Kujala then scored again before senior midfielder Peter Reuter and senior defenseman Billy Valle scored goals of their own to give the Polar Bears a dominant 7-1 at the end of the first quarter.
But in the second the Owls woke up. Rotatori scored his second goal, this time unassisted around the 13:00 mark. Sophomore attack Paul Beling and senior attack Tyler McKelvie added to the Owls rally with their own goals before Kujala scored his third of the contest. Junior attack Tyler Reilly then scored for the Owls before the end of the half which brought the score to 8-4 with the Polar Bears still leading.
Tim Smith / Photo Editor
In the third quarter the Owls responded with a 7-1 run of their own, scoring the first five goals of the quarter. With the score brought to 8-7, Rotatori netted the tying goal at the 4:56 mark before junior attack Rob Hart gave the Owls the lead unassisted. A goal from sophomore attack Shawn Daly would drag the Polar Bears back into a tied ball game before sophomore attack Hunter Arnold scored his second of the game, followed by another from Rotatori to give the Owls an 11-9 third quarter lead.
The two squads continued to battle hard in the fourth quarter, exchanging goals before junior midfielder Alex Osgood brought the Polar bears within one at the 10:25 mark. Reilly netted another goal before Kujala scored on a man-down opportunity with barely over two minutes remaining. With an opportunity to force the game into overtime, Polar Bear’s sophomore midfielder Daniel Buckman was stopped by Owl’s sophomore goalie Matt Howe in the final minute to earn KSC the massive upset win by a score of 13-12. The Owls outscored the Polar Bears by a margin of 12-5 after the first quarter.
Flying high, the KSC men carried their momentum over into Gorham, Maine, where the Owls drummed the Southern Maine University Huskies on Saturday, April 16.
The Owls took a 5-1 lead at the end of the first quarter. Beling scored on an assist from Arnold before Reilly and Rotatori scored as well. Junior midfielder Jaymz McStowe assisted junior attack Seth Wing to final put the Huskies on the board before McKelvie scored his first two markers of the game. McKelvie then scored twice more to start the second quarter.
With the score cut to 8-5, the Huskies never scored again as Hart scored twice in 19 seconds to spark an insurmountable run. Sophomore attack Frank Bacarella then scored, followed by more from Rotatori and McKelvie to make the score 14-5 at the half.
In the second half the Owls scored six more goal with two coming from senior attack Berek Martichuski before first year attack Bobby Carey scored twice in the fourth quarter. The Owls then scored five more goals in the final period to put the game far out of reach, granting the Owls the 25-5 victory.
Nick Tocco can be contacted at ntocco@kscequinox.com
