In an important game to keep postseason hopes alive, Keene State Men’s Lacrosse improved to .500 on Saturday, April 12, with a blowout victory over Salem State University. Junior attacker Jack Ansart put the Owls on his back and took control of the game for KSC with seven goals. This was the most goals by a single player in a game for Keene State since 2022.
Within 50 seconds into the game, the Owls struck first with a goal coming from senior midfielder Giacomo Tedone, assisted by senior attacker Rex Maccarini. Notably, Maccarini was the player who previously had scored seven or more goals in a game in 2022. Quickly after, Salem State answered the Owls’ opener with two goals for themselves.
With seven minutes remaining in the first quarter, Salem State extended their lead to two goals. This, in turn, fired up the Owls to take the lead back before the break. Maccarini got himself some more assists, fueling up goals om sophomore midfielder Jake Dubiel and junior midfielders Cole Ricardi and Sebastian Foresi. This ended the first quarter 4-3 in favor of Keene State.
Heading into the second quarter, the Vikings regained the lead with two goals two minutes into the quarter. Following these goals, the game went stale with no scoring for the next eight minutes. With five minutes left, Ansart took matters into his own hands. Ansart scored three goals in addition to senior midfielder Ben Tukey. This put the Owls ahead 8-5 to finish the first half.
The ball continued to find the back of the net for the Owls in the third quarter. In just eight minutes, Keene State found six goals. Two of these goals came from Ansart. Salem State found a couple of goals to try to salvage the game after this run Keene State had been on, but the Owls responded with two for themselves to finish out the quarter up 16-7.
The fourth quarter followed suit and was full of scoring as well. Ansart, Maccarini and Tedone each got goals in addition to first-year defender Nicholas Dexter. The Vikings came alive in the last three minutes of the game, scoring three goals to narrow their deficit.
The game ended 20-10 in favor of Keene State. Keene State got their 20th victory against the Vikings in program history.
The team will head to Plymouth State on Friday, April 18, to take on an old rival. The Owls will look to win the LEC matchup in hopes of making the playoffs.
Carson Flake can be contacted at
cflake@kscequinox.com
