BOSTON, Mass. – Despite a strong first 30 minutes, lacrosse was unable to hang on as the defending Little East Conference champion Keene State College Owls scored 12 goals over the final two quarters to defeat the Beacons by the final of 18-9 Saturday afternoon at James Cotter Field in the Little East opener for both teams.

THE BASICS

UMass Boston 9, Keene State College 18

UMass Boston (7-3, 0-1 Little East Conference)
Keene State College (5-3, 1-0 Little East Conference)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Despite never leading in Saturday's contest, the Beacons made things very interesting in the first two frames of Saturday's contest.  After falling into an early 5-0 hole, the Beacons clawed their way back thanks to a goal from Jack Dillon (Barrington, R.I.) and Matthew Duggan (Weymouth, Mass.). 

The duo made it 5-2 Owls to close out the first quarter.  In the second, Keene State was held to just one goal, while the Beacons got a tally from Duggan to keep it a three goal game going into the halftime break.

Also helping to keep the score close was senior goalie Craig Frehill (Norwell, Mass.), who registered seven stops, including six in the second quarter alone.  His Keene State counterpart Mat Howe was just as impressive, as he came-up with 10 of his 15 stops in the first 30 minutes.

After the break, the two teams exchanged a pair of goals to start off the third.  Unfortunately, Keene State would then erupt for seven more goals to take total control of the contest.  The Beacons would muster up just one more tally, a man-down goal, late in the third, but Keene State would have the final say as they closed out the nine goal surge. 

Keene State went into the fourth quarter in complete control as they led the host Beacons 15-6.  In the fourth and final quarter, both teams would find the back of the cage three times.  Conor Smith (Kingston, Mass.) recorded a hat trick in the final frame to cap-off a four goal day for the attackman.

Frehill ended the contest with 13 saves on 31 shots by the Owls attack.

Phil Truong (Quincy, Mass.) had a strong game on the face-off dot, as he collected 12 of the team's 16 face-off wins.  He also had five ground balls, along with Anthony Tortora (Medford, Mass.) and Dillon.  Frehill led the contest with eight GB's. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• Saturday's win over the Beacons marked the 20^th straight win for Keene State
• The Beacons struggled on man-up attempts as they went 1-for-8, while Keene State finished 2-for-4. 
• Keene State finished 19-for-22 on clear attempts; UMass Boston finished 16-for-22
• The Owls outshot the Beacons 54-41, but the Beacons led in ground balls 41-38

WHO'S NEXT

The Beacons will travel to New England College on Tuesday for a 4 p.m. non-conference game.