Jay McAree
Equinox Staff
Standing atop the Little East Conference, the Keene State College Men’s Lacrosse team finds themselves in the exact spot they wanted to be when the season began back in March.
The first-place Owls are 11-2, undefeated in conference play, and in the midst of a five game tear where they’ve netted more than 60 goals as they get set for their last pair games before the playoffs.
Those two remaining games will be LEC games, one at home against Plymouth State and another at Western Connecticut State University.
Michelle Berthiaume / Sports Editor
KSC senior Taylor Wicke drives past a defender during a win over UMass-Dartmouth on Sunday, April 22 at the Owl Athletic Complex.
Head Coach Mark Theriault said, “The list has basically been comprised of us and Eastern Connecticut for the championship, but there’s a couple of teams that are really pushing the envelope which conference wise, I think is a great thing.”
He continued, “With that in mind, I have to take every game seriously and move forward to prepare, get the scouts on other teams, and prepare the team practice wise to beat each team.”
Tyler McKelvie is in his first year with the team, but even he has learned not to get too comfortable, even with the team playing so well.
“You really can’t take any teams lightly in college because it doesn’t matter what day of the week it is, if you don’t bring your A game, it could be that one day where the other team brings it. You could lose to pretty much anybody, and you also can beat anybody as long as you bring your best everyday,” McKelvie said.
The team’s sight is certainly focused on winning the LEC and getting into the NCAA tournament and all season we’ve seen these players put forth maximum effort.
According to the Little East Conference website, Ian Hart is seventh in the conference in points scored, tallying up 42 of them, while goalie Alex Sharp is fifth in save percentage at 55.4 percent.
The team averages 12 goals a game on about 40 shots and can score from anywhere on the field making them a dangerous match-up for whoever they play in the LEC tournament.
But even with all the offense, the defense will be the key component to their success.
“We have kids coming out of the woodwork that can play defense. We’ve actually changed to a five man rotation defensively to keep our guys fresh,” Theriault said.
Another key is to remain healthy, “We’re pretty healthy, it’s very typical that we have some people that are banged up and bruised, but I think everyone at this of year is in the exact same boat as us,” Theriault said.
If this team plays the way they are capable of, and the way that they have all season long then people should worry more for their opponents.
Jay McAree can be contacted at
jmcaree@keene-equinox.com