SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Western New England employed a balanced offense and solid defense to earn an 18-7 victory Friday against visiting Curry in Commonwealth Coast Conference women's lacrosse play at Golden Bear Stadium. The Colonels fall even to 4-4 overall after playing in their CCC opener, while the Golden Bears improve to 9-0 on the season and 2-0 in the conference.

Five Golden Bears notched a hat trick including juniors Kaitlynn Stevens (3 assists), Jessica Scannapieco and sophomores Kelsey Armstrong (2 assists), Taylor Scialdone (2 assists), Bethany Peters (1 assist). Senior Kelsey Sherman and sophomore Brooke Kumnick also enjoyed a multi-point afternoon, as Sherman netted a goal and three assists and Kumnick had two goals and two helpers.

Emma Bolton (6 ground balls, 4 caused turnovers) and Malorie Knowlton paced the Colonels with two goals apiece, and Alli Schoff contributed a pair of assists.

Both teams played deliberately for about the opening 12 minutes. Bolton got the scoring started with a free-position goal at the 26:59 mark before WNE rattled off three consecutive goals, ignited by Scannapieco just 22 seconds after Curry took a 1-0 lead. Stevens fed Kumnick at 23:28 and Scialdone at 19:49 for a 3-1 Golden Bears lead.

Deanna Monfredo cut the deficit to 3-2 on a feed from Schoff at 18:02, but WNE answered again with a four-goal run to make it 7-2 behind a goal and an assist each from Armstrong and Scialdone during that stretch.

Kaitlin Cloutier tallied a man-up goal for Curry at 9:59 to provoke another four-goal streak by the Golden Bears for a commanding 11-3 cushion with 1 minute and 7 seconds remaining in the half.

In the second half, Kumnick, Armstrong and Peters scored within a 2:17 span to open the scoring and WNE held its first double-digit lead at 14-4. Curry never got closer than eight goals after that point.

Western New England outshot Curry by a 36-25 margin, including 26-15 on target. The Golden Bears held a slim advantage in ground balls, 37-34, but doubled up the Colonels in draw controls, 18-9.

Stevens led WNE with eight draw controls and Scannapieco had four, while Sherman chipped in five ground balls and three caused turnovers.

Christina Wallis made eight saves in the Curry cage, and junior Emily Castleman picked up the win for WNE after making six stops in 50:31 of action. Classmate MP played the final 9:29 and had two saves while permitting one goal.

Western New England completes its second three-game homestand of 2014 on Tuesday against CCC member Nichols, starting at 4 p.m.  Curry takes the field again on Tuesday in a CCC match-up at Gordon College in a 7:00 p.m. start.  (Game Recap Courtesy of Western New England Sports Information)