Greer's Eight Points, Tracy’s Six Goals Sends Men’s Lacrosse to CCC Championship Game

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (May 4, 2022) – The No. 1 seeded Western New England men's lacrosse team will advance to their 11th consecutive CCC Championship game on Saturday afternoon from Golden Bear Stadium following their 20-7 win over the No. 6 seeded Bison of Nichols College on Wednesday evening. Conor Tracy picked up six goals in the victory for WNE to lead the way.

Records:

• No. 1 Western New England: 13-5
• No. 6 Nichols College: 8-11

How it Happened

Conor Tracy started off the game with a goal for Western New England at the 11:13 mark into the first quarter to get the Golden Bears off and running. WNE had defeated Nichols earlier this season from Venditti Field by a final score of 18-5. The Bison upset No. 3 seeded Salve Regina University over the weekend to make it to their first ever semifinal game in their program's history. The Bison would score their programs first ever CCC semifinal goal on a tally from CJ Cadigan to even the score at one. As they have all season long, Western New England would turn up the heat on offense as Conor Tracy would find the back of the net, followed up by a Noah Rust goal to give WNE a quick 3-1 lead. Tracy and Mike Bannon would pick up tallies at the end of the quarter to give WNE a 5-1 lead after the first 15 minutes of play. WNE would come away with 16 shots in the first quarter, while Nichols came away with just six. 

The Golden Bears would come away with the next ten goals of the game, starting with the four in the first quarter. Conor Tracy would open the second quarter with the first two goals for Western New England with Matt Greer picking up his fourth assist of the evening as the Golden Bears would take a six-goal lead. Greerwould get the next two goals for the Golden Bears sending Western New England ahead by a nine-goal margin. Nichols would break the ten straight goal streak by Western New England with a goal by Connor Santoni with 2:37 to play in the second quarter, though the goal would quickly be answered by Jared Newall giving Western New England a 12-2 lead after the first half. WNE would shoot 18 times towards GK Brady Morgan while Nichols came away with just three shots in the quarter and nine in the half. Carter Randall made three saves in the first half, all coming in the first quarter for the Golden Bears.

Six goals were had in the third quarter, four scored by the home team. Ben Kolb would pick up his first of the evening for the Golden Bears to begin the scoring in the quarter. Dylan Hanley would fire one past Morgan to give Western New England a 14-2 lead. While up one player, the Bison would come back and get their third goal of the evening. Jared Newall and Dylan Hanley would pick up the final two goals of the evening for the Golden Bears with a last second goal for Nichols would give the Bison a 12-goal deficit with 15 minutes remaining in the contest. 

The Bison would open the fourth quarter with two goals in 1:35 to reduce their deficit to ten goals. From there, it would be all Golden Bears as David Kasper, Trevor Crawford, Nicholas Campagnone, and Matthew Quinn would all record goals for Western New England, putting the game away on the Bison, taking a 20-7 victory after the final horn sounded. 

Inside the Lines:

• Matt Greer led Western New England with eight points on the evening, coming away with two goals and six assists, causing one turnover in the win. 
• Conor Tracy took eight shots in the game, scoring six goals to lead all scorers in that category. Tracy now has 35 goals on the season. 
• WNE was a perfect 9-9 in clear attempts in the contest while Nichols went 11-18, fumbling the ball multiple times at the midfield line. 
• WNE scooped 39 ground balls while Nichols came away with 17 ground balls. The Golden Bears turned the ball over just eight times in the 60 minutes of play. 
• Western New England took 63 shots in the win while Nichols took just 23. 
• The Golden Bears won 24 of 30 faceoffs in the contest, while Jack Seiter won 20 of 23 in the circle. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• The Golden Bears will host the second seed Gulls of Endicott College on Saturday, May 7 at 1:00 pm from Golden Bear Stadium.
• Nichols sees their season conclude with the loss, wrapping up with a record of 8-11.