The Keene State Men’s Lacrosse team began its home campaign on Saturday with a tough 13-4 loss to Wentworth Institute of Technology (WIT).
After starting the season 0-2 with back-to-back away losses, the Owls were hoping to take advantage of their home field. That being said, it was the visitors who opened the scoring early in the first period. Keene State responded just minutes later when first-year attacker Adam Scala scored. Wentworth took back the lead before junior Dylan Seymour leveled things at 2-2 entering the second period of play.
Wentworth again made the breakthrough in the second period, this time 15 seconds in. With just under four minutes of play, senior Captain Rex Maccarini scored to tie things up for the Owls. But that tie was short-lived, as WIT regained the lead just 25 seconds later and the Leopards took a 4-3 into halftime.
The frigid temperature did not seem to deter either side from playing into the physical side of the game to begin the third period but yet again WIT would get the first goal. The Owls’ offense hit a standstill as they were unable to mount many threatening attacks throughout the third period. The Leopards took full advantage netting six to push the marker to 10-3 in favor of the visitors before entering the final period of play.
It was all Leopards in the final period as the Owls’ offense was unable to find answers going forward. Despite the scoreline, the Keene State bench remained energized, urging their team to keep attacking. Senior Captain Justin Miller, who was injured early in the fourth, called for more energy from his teammates. However, the Leopards were relentless and tacked on three more goals before a last-second effort by Seymour gave the Owls one final score. Wentworth closed out the game with a 13-4 victory.
Head Coach Mark Theriault said he was left frustrated by his team’s offensive performance and insisted that there would have to be changes going forward.
“There will definitely be tweaks going on. I think we deviated from our offensive game plan. People started to do the things individually … We have set offenses and certain systems that get the ball to good places on the field. And I don’t think we did a really good job of that,” said Theriault.
Junior attacker Jaheim Lancaster echoed the sentiments of his coach.
“We just really need to focus on the little things, ground balls, communication, clean passes. What’s beating us right now is ourselves,” said Lancaster.
Despite the loss, Theriault called for cool heads and patience as his team is still to hit top form. He also praised Miller’s efforts to energize the squad.
“Enthusiasm really means to work hard and they think they’re working hard but I think there’s a couple more gears that our team can have.”
Justin Miller is an emotional captain for us, and I applaud him for trying to get the guys going but I think it’s an entire team that needs to buy. We start over again on Monday and start to get things going, so yeah it’s frustrating being 0-3 but we’re all so excited for our next game,” said Theriault.
Looking ahead, the Owls will have a two-week break before hosting Vassar on March 5.
Elías Stowell Alemán can be contacted at
estowellaleman@kscequinox.com
