Men's Lacrosse Drops First Decision of 2022

TAMPA, Florida (March 15, 2022) – The Western New England men's lacrosse team dropped their first decision of the 2022 campaign on Tuesday night to the Saints of St. Lawrence University in game one of the Golden Bears two games in Tampa, Florida. WNE had a three goal lead at two points in the contest, though surrendered six straight goals to the Saints, falling 12-10. 

Records:

• Western New England: 4-1
• St. Lawrence: 4-1

How it Happened:

The Golden Bears got the game started with the first goal of the contest with just over five minutes of elapsed time in the first quarter. The Golden Bears would work their offense around the St. Lawrence Saints end with Joseph Contino taking control of the ball. Contino would find a cutting Mike Bannon who took a quick riffling shot that found twine to give the Golden Bears a 1-0 lead. St. Lawrence would quickly tally to even the scoring when Josh Huiatt ripped a goal past Carter Randall for the Golden Bears, setting the score at one all. Dylan Hanley would come up with a shot on goal at the 9:13 mark for WNE, though a big save from William Heim for the Saints kept the same even. Randall would come up large on the next possession for the Saints, making a stop in between the pipes. The Golden Bears and Saints would be held off the scoreboard until 41 seconds remaining in the first quarter when Hanley found the back of the net on a cut pass from Contino for his second assist of the evening, giving WNE a 2-1 lead after one quarter. 

The Golden Bears would take a two-goal lead at the beginning of the second quarter as Brian Madden would tally his first of the night for Western New England on a helper from Bannon to send the Golden Bears to a 3-1 lead. Scoring was scarce in the second quarter, though Western New England would be able to add to their lead on an unassisted tally from Joseph Bussinelli to give the Golden Bears a 4-1 lead. Bussinelli would control the ball for over 30 seconds before seizing an opening in the Saints defense and rifling a shot into the back of the net to give the Golden Bears a three-goal lead. The Saints would make a small comeback as Mark Mahoney would score with 2:40 to play in the quarter, giving St. Lawrence their second goal of the night. With just 14 seconds to play in the quarter, Madden would dial up his second goal of the night to give WNE their three-goal lead back. The Saints would respond with just a single second remaining in the quarter, sending the score to 5-3 after 30 minutes of play. 

Saint Lawrence would open the scoring in the third quarter, just six seconds into the frame when Mahoney picked up his second of the night, sending the score to 5-4 in favor of the Golden Bears. The Saints would score two goals in just eight seconds of game action to get themselves right back into the contest. St. Lawrence would come back with the next goal of the contest as Mahoney would pick up his hat trick goal for the Saints to even the score at five. St. Lawrence would score five straight goals in the contest, rolling over from the second quarter to the third to take their largest lead of the game on the Golden Bears with the score of 8-5. Hanley would pick up his second goal of the contest with 5:18 to play in the third quarter to get the Golden Bears back within two goals of a tie, though the Saints would add two extra tallies in the final minutes of the quarter to take their biggest lead of four goals into the final 15 minutes of play, with a score of 10-6. 

Western New England would quickly score to open the fourth quarter as Jared Newall would pick up his first of the night on an assist from Conor Tracy to get the Golden Bears back within three goals of the tie. Western New England would get within two again as Noah Rust and Joseph Bussinelli would tally to get the score to 11-9 in favor of the Saints. Judge Murphy would put the game away with a goal with under five minutes to play, giving St. Lawrence a 12-9 lead. The Saints would walk away with a 12-10 win over the Golden Bears. 

Inside the Crease:

• Joseph Bussinelli, Dylan Hanley, and Brian Madden all collected two goals for WNE, though it would not be enough in the losing effort. 
• WNE would be outshot for the first time this season, as the Saints would shoot 45 times to WNE's 39. St. Lawrence exploded for seven goals in the third quarter, outshooting WNE 15-7. 
• Western New England had a poor faceoff performance, going 9-25 in the circle on the night. 
•  Carter Randall made 17 saves on 29 shots faced while William Heim made 14 saves on 24 shots on goal faced. 
• Western New England would have a three-goal lead at two points in the contest, though let the Saints score six goals in a row from the end of the second quarter to the middle of the third to allow St. Lawrence to pace their way to victory. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• WNE remains in Tampa, Florida to take on Nazareth College on Thursday, March 17 at 6:30 pm. 
• The Saints travel to Cornelius, North Carolina to meet SUNY Cortland at 2:30 pm on Saturday, March 19.