Western New England Fends Off Salve Regina, 14-8

Golden Bears outscore Seahawks 7-2 in second and third quarters

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. (April 21, 2018) – The Western New England University men's lacrosse team outscored Salve Regina University 7-2 during the second and third quarters en route to a 14-8 victory over the Seahawks on Saturday evening in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at Gaudet Field. 

Top Performers
• Junior Hunter Cocks (Walden, N.Y.) led the way for the Golden Bears, as he won 18-of-20 faceoffs and secured a game-high ten ground balls while also contributing offensively with a pair of goals.
• Senior Mikey Wood (Southborough, Mass.) and junior Tim Breau (Lima, N.Y.) recorded three goals each, while freshman Matthew Greer (South Windsor, Conn.) chipped in with a goal and two assists.

• Salve Regina freshman Pat Leary (Wakefield, Mass.) paced the Seahawks with three goals and one assist, while senior Alex Makoske (Shoreham, N.Y.) added two goals.

Game Review
Trailing 3-1 after Leary notched his second goal of the game with 8:19 left in the opening quarter, Western New England cut its deficit in half 58 seconds later on a goal by Breau, and senior Justin Holl (Mount Laurel, N.J.) equalized for the Golden Bears at the 3:56 mark. 

Leary's third goal six minutes into the second quarter gave the Seahawks their final lead (4-3). Wood answered for Western New England with 7:36 remaining in the first half, and sophomore Brendan Lyons (Syosset, N.Y.) put the Golden Bears ahead for good (5-4) with 5:11 on the clock. Junior Jared Ward (Littleton, Mass.) set up Wood at the 2:10 mark as Western New England took a 6-4 lead into the break.

Cocks won the opening faceoff of the second half and proceeded to take the ball down the field and score, sparking a 4-0 run that saw the Golden Bears open up a 10-4 advantage with seven minutes left in the third quarter.

Salve Regina responded with a 3-0 spurt that stretched into the fourth period, as the Seahawks closed the gap to three (10-7) when Makoske scored at the 10:29 mark.

The home team was unable to draw closer, however, as Western New England closed out the contest with three unanswered goals to extend the final margin to six.

Notes
• The Golden Bears outshot the Seahawks 46-26 and held a 23-9 advantage in ground balls.
• Senior Steven Kerr (Hopkinton, Mass.) and sophomore Sean McCusker (Northport, N.Y.) split the goalkeeping duties, with Kerr making eight stops in 37:46 in the cage.
• Cocks leads the CCC with 200 faceoff wins this season. 

Up Next
Both teams wrap up their regular season slates on Tuesday, as Western New England (10-6, 7-0 CCC) hosts Gordon and Salve Regina (10-5, 4-3 CCC) travels to Curry.