Late Fourth Quarter Run Falls Short in 11-10 Loss to Amherst College

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (March 29, 2022) – The Western New England men's lacrosse team put up a valiant effort against the Mammoths of Amherst College on a frigid night from Golden Bear Stadium, coming away with a near 11-10 loss after seeing their halftime lead fade in the third quarter, the Golden Bears came back in the fourth, though fell one goal short of tying the contest. 

Records:

• Western New England: 5-4
• Amherst College: 4-3

How it Happened:

The Golden Bears were looking to pick up their first non-conference victory since March 9^th when they handled Bates College 21-13. The Golden Bears matched with a traditionally strong Amherst College Mammoths program, who came into the game looking for their fourth win of the season. It took the Golden Bears all of 42 seconds to get on the board in the first quarter, getting off to a great start. Jack Seiter would win the opening faceoff while Noah Rust would pick up the first goal of the game for Western New England on a feed from Conor Tracy to open the scoring in the game, giving WNE a 1-0 lead. Amherst would quickly come back and took their first lead of the game as Jake Bennett would score just 44 seconds after the Mammoths tally, followed by a Brock Gonzalez goal to give the Mammoths a 2-1 lead. Carter Tate would tally the third goal in a row for Amherst, sending them to a quick two goal lead over the Golden Bear. Matt Greer would rear back and rip a shot past starting keeper for the Mammoths, Mitch Likins, on an assist from Joseph Contino, to give Western New England their second marker of the game. Amherst and Western New England would switch off goal for goal to end the first quarter as Jared Newall scored his first of the night to finish the quarter of scoring, as both WNE and Amherst went without a goal for the final five minutes of the quarter, ending with a score of 4-3. Amherst would outshoot WNE 12-9 in the first quarter. 

Just two goals were scored in the second 15 minutes of play, both coming in favor of the hosting Golden Bears. At the 6:38 mark of the quarter, Noah Rust would find the back of the net to even the score at four. Western New England would regain the lead in with just under three minutes to play in the half when Newall found the back of the net for his second goal of the game with TJ Dalicandro coming away with his first assists of the night to send the Golden Bears to a halftime lead, a 5-4. The Golden Bears held Amherst to just eight shots in the half while Carter Randal came away with three saves in the quarter and seven total in the half. 

The Mammoths would come out of the half and flip the script on Western New England, scoring five of the next six goals in the contest, all in the third quarter, including three straight tallies to retake the lead. Brock Gonzalez opened with the first two Mammoths goals in the third quarter, giving Amherst a 6-5 lead. The Mammoths would cash in on a man up opportunity with 7:36 to play in the quarter as Bayard Demallie would score to give Amherst their second two-goal lead of the contest. Newall would come around again for WNE, picking up goal number three of the night with 5:48 to play on an assist from Mike Bannon, giving WNE their sixth goal of the contest. Amherst would grab the final two goals of the third quarter as Connor Guest and Jake Bennett lit the lamp for the Mammoths, ending the quarter with the score of 9-6, the largest lead for either team in the contest, at three. WNE came away with just three third quarter shots and turned the ball over eight times to Amherst's one. 

In the fourth, WNE would see themselves go down by as many as five goals with just under nine minutes to play in the contest as Amherst would come away with two straight to open the quarter. The fighting Golden Bears would make an effort for a comeback as Newall would start to scoring parade for WNE on an assist from Rust to give WNE their 7^th tally. Bannon would score with 3:03 on the clock, sending the Golden Bears down by three, 11-8. With 51 seconds left, Matt Greer would pick up a goal and with just a single second remaining, Dylan Hanley would score but it would be just a little too late for the Golden Bears, as Western New England would fall 11-10 on home turf. 

Inside the Arc:

• Jared Newall came away with four goals for Western New England in the loss. Newall has 33 goals on the season and is just five goals away from 100 in his Golden Bears career. The 33 goals this season is a new career high. 
• Noah Rust contributed two goals and an assist for the Golden Bears in the loss, while Conor Tracy picked up three helpers for WNE. 
• Carter Randall made three saves in each quarter, totaling 12 in the contest. His counterpart, Mitch Linkins, also made 12 saves. 
• Amherst would outshoot WNE 44-30 in the contest. WNE scooped 31 ground balls to Amherst's 28. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• The Golden Bears are right back in action on Thursday, March 31 at 7:00 pm when they take on Curry College in CCC play which begins a four-game road trip. 
• Amherst travels to No. 11 Bowdoin College on Saturday, April 2 at 1:00 pm.