MILTON, Mass. – The Curry College men's lacrosse team closed out the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) portion of the regular season schedule with a 14-10 loss at home against Western New England University on Tuesday afternoon at Walter M. Katz Field.
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak and put the Colonels record at 7-8 overall on the season and an even 4-4 in the CCC. The victory moves the Golden Bears 10-4 overall, including a perfect 7-0 mark in conference play.
Sophomore Jared Newall (Stratford, Conn.) tallied a hat trick and junior John Shahpazian (New Providence, N.J.) pitched in four points on a hat trick and one assist to lead Western New England. Sophomore Matthew Greer (South Windsor, Conn.) contributed four points on two goals and two assists. Senior Jared Ward (Littleton, Mass.) was the final visiting player with multiple goals with two on the day. Four others had one apiece for the Golden Bears. Freshman Mike Bannon (Edmond, Okla.) registered a season-high six assists.
Curry senior Devin Newell (Medford, Mass.) finished with two goals and one assist while classmate Kyle Ton (Norwich, Conn.) and junior Cameron Nigro (Scarborough, Maine) each added a pair of scores. Four others netted a goal each for the Colonels.
Curry was the first to get on the board just over a minute into the game on an unassisted goal by senior MJ Urbano (Wakefield, Mass.). Western New England answered with a 3-0 run on goals by Ward, Greer, and Newall. Nigro pulled the home squad to within one with an unassisted marker with 4:38 remaining in the opening stanza, but Newall had the answer, scoring his second of the frame, this time off a pass from Shahpazian, to make the score 4-2 after one.
The Colonels outscored the Golden Bears 5-2 in the second quarter to pull even at the break. Ward scored off a helper from Bannon to start. The Colonels followed with two straight, one apiece from Ton and junior Harrison Fallon (Wrentham, Mass.) to trim the deficit to one. Greer netted his second of the game just later. Another two-goal spurt by Curry knotted the game at six with 8:29 remaining on markers by sophomore Matthew Scahill (Gales Ferry, Conn.) and Ton. The teams traded goals over the final 8:28 of the half to send the game into the half deadlocked at seven. Freshman Noah Rust (Windham, N.H.) and Nigro tallied one apiece to send the game into the half with a tied score.
The Colonels snapped the tie in the opening 2:31 of the third on goals by junior Andrew DeLeary (Wakefield, Mass.) and Newell. Western New England then embarked on a 4-0 run for the rest of the quarter on one goal by sophomore Conor Tracy (Walpole, Mass.) and three coming from Shahpazian to stretch the score to 11-9 at the end of three quarters.
The scoring run continued for the Golden Bears as they recorded three straight on markers by Newall, senior Tim Breau (Lima, N.Y.), and freshman Murphy Hartmann (Anthem, Ariz.) to stretch the lead to 14-9 with under 10 minutes to play in regulation. Newell found the back of the net for the final goal of the contest, which came off an assist from junior Jake Stebbins (Colchester, Vt.) for the 14-10 final.
Junior goalie Sean McCusker (Northport, N.Y.) made 14 stops and posted the victory for Western New England, while freshman Bobby Cannan (Bernardsville, N.J.) made 15 saves in the setback for Curry. The Colonels outshot the Golden Bears by a 49-44 margin for the match, while Western New England went 2-of-8 man-up opportunities while holding the home squad to just a 0-for-2 mark in that same category.
Curry wraps up the regular season on Friday, April 19 with a non-league home contest against Johnson & Wales University at 7:00 p.m. Western New England will next play on Wednesday, April 17 at Williams College at 6:00 p.m.
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