GORHAM, Maine -- The Keene State College men's lacrosse team raced out to a 6-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back en route to a 19-5 victory over the University of Southern Maine in a Little East Conference game Saturday afternoon at Hodgdon Field.

The win was the fourth straight for the Owls who improve to 8-3 overall and 6-1 in the conference. All four wins in the streak have come in conference play. The Huskies, who had their five-game winning streak stopped, slip to 10-6 overall and 4-3 in LEC play.

Keene State finished second in the final LEC regular season standings and will receive a bye in the first round of the tournament that begins Tuesday. Southern Maine will be the third seed and host sixth-seeded Salem State College on Tuesday (time tba). It will be the first home playoff game in the history of the USM men's program.

Freshman Griffin Meehan (Simsbury, Conn.) and senior Rodney Arganese (Trumbull, Conn.) paced the potent KSC attack with three goals and two assists apiece. Senior Casey Brodersen (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) and sophomore Cam Sousa (Hollis, N.H./Hollis Brookline) each had three goals. Senior Tony Santa Fe (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) had a goal and three assists. Sophomore goalie Alec Corliss (Waltham, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) played the first three quarters and registered seven saves. Freshman Kevin LeSage (Exeter, N.H.) played the final quarter and had two saves.

Southern Maine received a pair of goals from seniors Preston Gilbert (Saco, Maine/Chev-erus) and Lee Gauthier (Berwick, Maine/Noble) and a single tally from sophomore Tyler Joseph (Hancock, N.H./ConVal). Senior goalie James Suriyodorn (Deer Park, N.Y.) made 17 saves.

Led by Arganese's three points (2g, 1a), the Owls blasted out to a 6-0 lead after 15 minutes. The teams played a fairly even second quarter as Meehan and Arganese scored to offset goals by Gilbert and Gauthier making it 8-2 at halftime.

The Owls turned up the offense in the second half, out scoring the Huskies 11-3 and out shooting them 38-10. Meehan found the net twice in the third quarter as the Owls increased their margin to 13-2.

2009-04-25