DANBURY, Conn. - Sophomore Julian Duque (Mastic, N.Y.) tallied a game-high five goals, while classmate Matt Sweeney (Rocky Point, N.Y.) added a hat trick and two assists to propel the top-seeded Western Connecticut State University men's lacrosse team to a 13-8 victory over visiting fourth-seeded Keene State College on Thursday night at the Westside Athletic Complex.

With the win, the Wolves improved to 14-4 overall. They will host second-seeded UMass Boston in the LEC Championship game on Saturday at 4 p.m. The Beacons downed third-seeded Plymouth State in the other semifinal matchup. Keene State ends their season at 9-7.

The hosts controlled the majority of possession time as senior Jonathan Russack-Baker (Groton, Conn.) dominated the faceoffs, winning 16-of-21 attempts to go along with a game-high 11 ground balls. That led to the Wolves outshooting the Owls by a 48-39 margin.

The visitors squared off against a solid effort from WestConn defensively. Senior defender Matt Griffin (Holbrook, N.Y.) anchored the unit with five ground balls and a caused turnover. 

The game began with stifling defense on both ends of the field before Duque got WestConn on the board with a pair of goals less than one minute apart. He fired a lefty bouncer just underneath the crossbar with 3:51 left in the first quarter before firing a low shot into the cage moments later. Senior attackman Trey Aronow (Holbrook, N.Y.) then tickled the twine, giving the Wolves a 3-1 lead heading into the second.

WestConn widened the gap to 4-1 when senior midfielder Stephen Cicchetti (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) notched his 31st goal of the year. However, the Owls responded with a pair to cut it to 4-3 at halftime.

The Wolves regained the three-goal cushion to make it 6-3 early in the third as Chicchetti netted his 32nd. But the visitors struck back with a three-goal spurt, deadlocking the count at 6-6 midway thru the stanza. 

The hosts responded by dropping the hammer with a 7-0 run that began in the third and carried into the fourth. Aronow sparked the barrage with his 40th goal of the campaign when he came around a screen and ripped a shot into the top corner from the top of the box. Sweeney took advantage of the short-stick defenders with a pair of scoring strikes before Duque did the same to cap the flurry with his team-leading 59th marker of the year, extending the lead to 13-6.

The Owls would not recover from the outburst. They did add a pair of late man-up goals to round the scoring out at 13-8. 

WestConn senior goalkeeper Brendan Grove (Cheshire, Conn.) earned the win and finished with seven saves, while Keene State junior goalie Charlie Giuliotti (Reading, Mass.) turned aside nine shots.