SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Western New England men’s lacrosse team completed a perfect season in the Commonwealth Coast Conference with a 20-5 victory over visiting Curry Saturday afternoon (Apr. 21).
The Golden Bears, ranked 18th nationally, improved their record to 10-3 overall and 7-0 in the conference. WNE closes out its regular season at city rival Springfield on Wednesday (April 25).
Twelve individuals scored goals and 18 players scored points as Western New England held a commanding 54-19 advantage in shots.
Senior midfielder Joe O’Keefe (Branford, Conn.) led the way with three goals and an assist. Junior attacker Corbett Corrigan Harreys (Essex, Conn.) and sophomore attacker Adam Knapton (Canandaigua, N.Y.) each tallied three times.
Senior attacker Patrick White (Milton, Conn.) contributed a pair of goals and assists while junior midfielder James Reardon (Longmeadow, Mass.) scored twice.
Curry took an early 1-0 lead when junior midfielder Joseph Natale (Haverhill, Mass.) scored just 2:18 into the game. It was 2-2 after the opening period before the Golden Bears outscored their guests by a 6-1 margin to take an 8-3 lead at the break.
Western New England ran off six answered goals at one point in the third quarter for a 15-4 lead.
Senior Joe Martin (Springfield, Mass.) took 12-of-13 face-offs while classmate Josh Tullis (Medford, N.Y.) was 8-of-9 and sophomore Jesse DeLucca (East Lyme, Conn.) 5-for-5. Martin finished with eight ground balls while junior midfielder Corey Johnson (Maybrook, N.Y.) picked-up seven.
Freshman goalie Brandon Body (Newtown, Conn.) made five saves and allowed five goals in 50 minutes to raise his record to 5-0.
Curry freshman attacker John Castellano (Scarsdale, N.Y.) notched a pair of goals while Natale finished with a goal and assist.
Sophomore defender Jimmy Mascioli (Arlington, Mass.) had three ground balls. Senior goalie Michael Hibbard (North Chelmsford, Mass.) compiled 14 saves.
Martin, O'Keefe, Tullis, White, Brewster Knowlton (Somers, Conn.), Liam Bokanovich (Sandwich, MA), Nick Jez (Somers, Conn.), Andrew Mariani (East Brunswick, N.J.), Jonathan Roy (Lewiston, Maine).
The Colonels are now 8-7 overall and 1-5 in conference play. They return to action on Wednesday, April 25 when they travel to CCC opponent University of New England in a 7:00 p.m. game start. (Game Recap Courtesy of Western New England University Sports Information)
