Men’s Lacrosse Opens 2022 Campaign With 18-8 Win over Clark

WORCESTER, Mass. (February 20,2022) – The Western New England men's lacrosse team took the field for the first time in 2022, traveling to the hosting Clark University Cougars, one day after the originally scheduled game, taking down Clark by a final score of 18-8. Jared Newall led the way for the Golden Bears, scoring four goals in the win. 

Records:

• Western New England: 1-0
• Clark University: 0-1

How it Happened:
WNE made their return to the field, looking for a little bit of revenge to begin the 2022 season after being selected second in the Commonwealth Coast Conference preseason poll. Western New England traveled to Clark University, who they had previously met and defeated at Golden Bear Stadium in the shortened 2020 season, knocking off the Cougars 11-9. Western New England would have little trouble in the opening 15 minutes of the first quarter as Brian Madden would score the first goal of the season for the Golden Bears just 39 seconds into the contest to give Western New England a quick 1-0 lead. After Carter Randall came away with a big save to keep Clark off the scoreboard, WNE found twine again as Josh Salem picked up his first of the season to give WNE a 2-0 lead. Quickly after the Salem tally, Western New England would collect their third of the afternoon as just 22 seconds later, Jared Newall would find his first goal of the afternoon after Jack Seiter would win a faceoff and the Golden Bears would march right up the field for a goal. Matt Greer would pick up the assist to extend WNE's lead to 3-0. Western New England would go a man up with ten minutes to play in the first quarter and Newall would capitalize on the advantage, scoring his second goal of the game from Greer to quickly give WNE a 4-0 lead. Both Newall and Greer would finish the quarter with another goal apiece to give the Golden Bears a 6-0 lead after the first quarter over the hosts.  Western New England scooped six ground balls in the quarter, while Randall made five saves to start the game. 

Clark would pick up the first goal of the second half before the Golden Bears would tally the next two when Greer would be set up by Mike Bannon while Madden scored his second of the match to give Western New England the seven goal lead, 8-1. In the final three minutes of the quarter, Conor Tracy would dial up two rips for goals to give the Golden Bears a 10-2 lead heading into the break. At halftime, WNE would collect 18 ground balls, would have a 10-13 success rate in clears, and would win 9-15 faceoffs. WNE out shot Clark 25-16 through the first 30 minutes of play.  

The third quarter would be all Golden Bears, taking 16 shots to Clark's one. Murphy Hartmann would start the quarter with an unassisted tally while Noah Rust would score a man up on an assist from Greer with 9:10 to play in the third quarter. Ben Kolb would pick up his first of the season from Madden before Clark was able to find the back of the net on their lone shot attempt of the quarter. Newall and Tracy would find twine in the final three and a half minutes of the third quarter to give the Golden Bears a 15-3 lead after 45 minutes complete. WNE collected 13 groundballs, while winning 5-7 faceoffs in the quarter. 

Clark would come alive in the fourth quarter, though it would be too late for the Cougars to mount a comeback. The Cougars started with the opening two tallies of the fourth quarter before B. Kolb would score while a man down to give WNE a 16-5 lead. Zachary Mein and Joseph Bussinelli would score the other two goals in the quarter for the Golden Bears, sending WNE to an 18-8 win over the Clark University Cougars on Sunday afternoon. Jonathon Salsbury made three saves in the fourth quarter, coming in relief of Randall who picked up the win for the Golden Bears. 

Inside the Arc:

• Jared Newall would lead Western New England with four goals on the afternoon, coming away with nine shots on goal. Conor Tracy took seven shots, landing five on goal and three goals for the Golden Bears. 
• Western New England's defense forced 18 caused turnovers in the game while Murphy Hartmann, Andrew Huta, Joseph Contino, Anthony Gamba, and John Oliver came away with two each for the Golden Bears. 
• Western New England won 16 of 30 faceoffs in the winning effort as Jack Seiter went 13-19 in the circle. 
• WNE collected 42 total groundballs, led by Matt Greer, Ben Kolb, and Josh Salem who all had four each. WNE was successful on 18-21 clears while Clark collected 15 successful clears on 20 attempts. 
• Western New England is now 5-1 all time against the Cougars, having won their last three matchup's. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Western New England opens their home schedule when Keene State visits Golden Bears Stadium on Wednesday, February 23 at 4:00 pm. 
• Clark University remains at home as they host RPI on Wednesday, February 23 at 7:00 pm.