Third Quarter Surge Sparks Western New England To 13-7 Triumph at Gordon in CCC Opener

Dudeck & Ward combine for seven second half goals

WENHAM, Mass. (March 29, 2017) – The Western New England University men's lacrosse team overcame a slow start with a dominant third quarter performance en route to a 13-7 victory over Gordon College on Wednesday evening in its Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) opener at the Brigham Athletic Complex.

Top Performers
• Senior Keegan Dudeck (Longmeadow, Mass.) and sophomore Jared Ward (Littleton, Mass.) led the way for the Golden Bears, as Dudeck registered a season-high seven points (four goals, three assists) and Ward added a season-best five (four goals, one assist). The duo fueled Western New England's third quarter surge, combining for five of the team's seven goals in the period.
• Junior Nicholas Beauchamp (Wilbraham, Mass.) recorded a hat trick, marking his third straight multi-goal game and sixth overall this season.
• Sophomore Hunter Cocks (Walden, N.Y.) was dominant at the face-off X, winning 18-of-22 (81%) attempts and collecting a game-high ten ground balls.

• Junior Nick Palandjian (Belmont, Mass.) tallied a team-high four points (two goals, two assists) for Gordon, while classmate Nico Manganiello (Peabody, Mass.) and graduate student Hunter Ward (Fauquier, Va.) netted two goals apiece.

Game Review
• Palandjian (14:18), Hunter Ward (7:20) and Manganiello (4:12) accounted for the only goals in the opening quarter as the Fighting Scots held a 3-0 lead after 15 minutes of play.
• After Manganiello tallied his second goal of the contest on a feed from Palandjian at the 8:13 mark of the second quarter, Western New England closed out the frame on a 3-0 run with goals from Beauchamp, Ward and senior Frank Medlicott (Stanwood, Wash.) to pull to within one (4-3) at the break.
• The Golden Bears seized the momentum early in the second half, as Ward scored the equalizer 2:18 into the third quarter and tallied the go-ahead goal just 11 seconds later, following a face-off win by Cocks.
• Hunter Ward recorded Gordon's lone goal of the frame with just under nine minutes to play, but Western New England pulled away with four consecutive goals to close out the third quarter, including three straight from Dudeck.
• Dudeck set up Ward's fourth goal of the night at the 13:01 mark of the fourth, giving the Golden Bears an 11-5 advantage.
• The Fighting Scots answered with two straight goals to cut their deficit to four (11-7) with 7:22 remaining, but they would get no closer, as Dudeck and Beauchamp added insurance goals to extend the final margin back to six.

Notes
• Western New England outshot Gordon 42-33 and held a 44-24 advantage in ground balls, including 28-9 in the second half.
• Junior goalie Steven Kerr (Hopkinton, Mass.) finished with ten saves on 17 shots.
• Ward's five points tonight were his most since he recorded six in the Golden Bears' CCC championship victory over Endicott last May.

Up Next
Western New England (1-8, 1-0 CCC) returns home to host the University of New England on Saturday at 4 p.m., while Gordon (3-5, 0-2 CCC) welcomes Salve Regina to the Brigham Complex for a noon contest.