The Keene State Men’s Lacrosse team stormed over Little East Conference opponent University of Southern Maine (USM) for a dominating victory. The Owls came away with a 15-3 win to get themselves back to .500 on Saturday, April 5, in Gorham, Maine.
The Owls grabbed momentum right away as they went man-up in the first two minutes of the first quarter. Keene State capitalized on the upper hand, scoring a goal 20 seconds into the man-up opportunity to go up 1-0. The goal came from an assist by senior Giacomo Tedone and was scored by another senior, Rex Maccarini.
Maccarini revisited the opponent’s net again just a minute later by scoring another goal to put the Owls up 2-0 in the first three minutes. The senior refused to stay away and completed a hat trick for the first three goals in the game and the away team went up 3-0.
The Owls won the ensuing faceoff and 20 seconds into the possession sophomore midfielder Nicholas McNulty scored KSC’s fourth goal in a row. Less than five minutes into the game, Keene State was up 4-0 and was in full control.
The first quarter calmed down for some time until the Owls began another scoring sequence. With six minutes to go in the first quarter, a familiar face shot on the USM goalie and Maccarini put away his fourth of the day.
Keene State scored two more goals in the first quarter, both by junior attackman Dylan Seymour. An answer from USM finally came and was be the last goal of the first slate, Keene State up 7-1.
Within the first two minutes of the second quarter, Seymour netted another goal for a hat trick of his own. About a minute later, junior attackman Jack Ansart scored his 14th goal of the year, putting the Owls up 9-1.
Momentum in hand, the Owls went back and forth with USM in hopes of gaining possession again. When they did in the ninth minute, junior midfielder Jaheim Lancaster scored his second goal of the season. KSC’s defense fended off any valuable opportunities that USM had to offer, which kept them low on the scoreboard for some time.
Before the half ended, Maccarini scored his fifth in the first half and gave the Owls a commanding 11-1 lead.
The second half began much slower than the first, as both teams were up and down the field for about five minutes. Momentum was gained by the Owls as they went man-up after a penalty, and senior midfielder Ben Tukey scored the Owls’ 12th goal of the day.
Keene State ended up man-down in the third quarter but the stagnant defense kept USM goalless in the opportunity. Once even strengthened, the Owls gained and held possession until Maccarini scored one more to give the senior six goals on the day.
USM responded to the Owls’ 13th goal with one of their own to make the score 13-2 before the third quarter came to a close.
To begin the fourth, first-year Parker Wallace scored his first goal of the season which was unassisted. WIth the game certainly out of reach for the home team, USM scored a goal with three and a half minutes to play. This goal was met with a response and goal from Lancaster, which was the last score of the game. Keene State finished the road game with a 15-3 win over Southern Maine.
The team will travel to Salem State to play their next game on Friday, April 11. With a month left of the season, the team will look to win their remaining LEC games and compete for the conference title.
Jacob Enscoe can be contacted at
jenscoe@kscequinox.com
