The UMass Boston lacrosse team had high hopes in securing second place in the Little East Conference when the squad faced the Owls of Keene State last Saturday. However, those hopes were dashed as the Keene State defense limited the conference’s leading scorer at the time, UMB’s Josh Stolp, to two goals as the Owls beat the Beacons 9-7 in the season’s final game for both teams.

The win gave Keene State second place in the Little East Conference and a first round bye in the Little East Conference playoffs. The loss put the Beacons’ record at 7-5 overall, and 3-3 in the conference.

UMB was coming into the game on a bit of a roll, destroying their last two opponents, Plymouth State and Southern Maine, by the scores of 23-4 and 18-2, respectively. However, the conference’s second best defensive team held the high scoring Beacon machine to just seven goals.

The game started out well for UMB, as the team scored the first two goals. The scoring dried up for the rest of the first half for the Beacons and Keene State tallied four consecutive goals for a 4-2 lead at the midway point of the game.

The third period was not a particularly good one for the Beacons, as the Owls extended their lead to 6-3. The fourth period was closely contested, but Eric Momnie of Keene State potted his third goal of the game and gave his team a 9-5 lead. The Beacons scored two late goals, but it was too little, too late.

Sean Hennigan and Phil Pittiriono netted two goals apiece, and Mike Forns, the team’s second leading scorer, added one goal. Goaltender Johny Walker came up with 15 saves in the effort.