PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Top-seeded Western Connecticut State University and second-seeded University of Massachusetts Boston will square off for the 2025 Little East Conference (LEC) Men’s Lacrosse Championship Tournament title following their respective semifinal wins Thursday. The Wolves downed fifth-seeded Keene State College, while the Beacons edged third-seeded Plymouth State University .
No. 1 Western Connecticut 17, No. 5 Keene State 5
The Wolves opened this contest with a five-goal run and never looked back. Tristan McMahon opened the scoring 2:48 in to the game before back-to-back scores from Liam Ford in a span of 1:30 gave WestConn a 3-0 lead. Julian Duque scored with 9:01 left in the first before Tyler Starrett capped the run just 14 seconds later.
Jack Ansart and Rex Maccarini pulled the Owls back within three before Duque started a three-goal Wolves run that saw Starrett close the first quarter scoring with 47 seconds to go and Ford open the second quarter scoring 1:17 into the frame, giving WestConn ab 8-2 lead. Keene State would lead 10-4 at the half, and scored six of the final seven goals of the contest for the 17-7 final.
Ford had a game-high six points on four goals and two assists, while Duque finished the game with four goals and one helper. Starrett had a hat trick and Benjamin Hawthorne tallied two goals with on assist. Jake Kelly totaled five saves to earn the decision in goal.
Ansart finished the game with four goals for the Owls, while Maccarini finished with one goal and four assists. Dylan Florian totaled 11 saves while taking the loss in net for Keene State.
WestConn outshot the Owls 44-19 in the game, which included a 29-8 advantage in the first half. The Wolves won 20-of-25 faceoffs and had a 34-18 advantage in ground balls; Jon Russack-Baker was 19-for-23 and picked up 11 ground balls for WestConn.
No. 2 UMass Boston 11 , No. 3 Plymouth State 9
James Boldy totaled 17 saves, 11 of which came in the second half, to backstop the Beacons to a narrow victory over the defending LEC champion Panthers.
The two teams traded goals before a 4-1 UMass Boston run to close out the second quarter gave it a 7-4 lead at halftime. Matt Hutchings opened the surge two minutes into the period before Matthew Konareski capped the first half scoring with 6:36 left in the frame.
Cole Allen’s man-up goal four minutes into the third put the Beacons in front 8-4 before Crosby Fay and Ryan Collins scored in a span of 1:40 to pull Plymouth State back within two at 8-6 with 6:39 left in the period. Patrick Dwinnells answered for the hosts 42 seconds later before Jack Schartner’s tally with 11 seconds to go in the third pushed UMass Boston’s lead back to four, 10-6.
PSU scored three of the four total goals in the fourth quarter, pulling back with two on Aiden Renner’s tally with 3:06 to go, but it was not enough to complete the comeback attempt.
The Beacons had a balanced attack with nine different goal scorers in the contest. Schartner and Timothy Sullivan were the only UMass Boston players with multi-goal games, scoring two each. Nolen Beauregard and Hutchings both finished with one goal and one assist for two points.
Colling and Fay both finished with a game-high three goals for the Panthers, while Renner finished with two goals and one helper for three points. Ethan Schena finished with 17 saves in goal.