Men’s Lacrosse Advances to NCAA Division III Men’s Lacrosse Third Round

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (May 14, 2022) – The Western New England men's lacrosse team defeated the Hornets of the University of Lynchburg on Saturday afternoon, coming away with their first win in the NCAA Tournament since 2013, defeating Lynchburg 14-10 from Union College, the host site of the tournament. 

Records:

• Western New England: 15-5
• No. 11 University of Lynchburg: 14-5

How it Happened:

The Commonwealth Coast Conference Champions came away with the first goal of the game in their first appearance in the tournament since 2019 when Conor Tracy took a feed from Matt Greer and put it into the back of the cage, sending the Golden Bears to an early 1-0 lead. The first quarter would see play go back and forth, with the University of Lynchburg Hornets coming away with the next goal of the game while a man up. At the 7:40 mark, Mike Bannon would give Western New England their lead back again, scoring an unassisted tally, giving Western New England a 2-1 lead. Lynchburg would come back for the last two goals of the first quarter, with both Jake Rust and Nate Shafer picking up tallies for the Hornets to end the quarter with the number 11 team in the country taking a 3-2 lead. Lynchburg would have the shots advantage 12-8 in the first quarter, with GK Carter Randall coming away with four saves in the opening quarter for WNE. 

More scoring in the second quarter would come around, with the Hornets picking up four of the six goals. The Hornets would take a two-goal lead just 13 seconds into the quarter when Michael Kraus tallied for Lynchburg. WNE would pick up the next two goals, as Matt Greer and Mike Bannon would collect tallies to tie the game at four with just under 9:30 to play. Lynchburg would come away with the final three goals of the second quarter, taking a 7-4 lead after 30 minutes of play. WNE did come away with ten shots in the contest, with Lynchburg taking 13, their high for the game. Randall made an additional five saves in the second quarter. 

The Hornets would fail to use their three straight goals as momentum, as Western New England would open the third quarter with two goals in seven seconds, getting within one goal of the tie. Dylan Hanley would score just 51 seconds into the third quarter, which was then followed up with a Jared Newall tally on a Matt Greet assist just seven seconds later, giving WNE their sixth goal of the game, trailing by just one. Lynchburg would rear back and score the next goal of the game, taking their two-goal lead back. Western New England refused to let the Hornets take control of the contest, seeing the next four goals fall in favor of the Golden Bears. Dylan Hanley collected his second goal of the game on an assist from Matt Greer with still just under 12 minutes to play in the quarter. Zachary Mein found twine to even the score at eight at the 9:25 mark, while Conor Tracy would be assisted by Brian Madden to give Western New England their first lead since they took the 2-1 lead in the first quarter. Jared Newall would score the last goal of the quarter, giving the Golden Bears a 10-8 lead after three quarters of play. WNE would outplay the Hornets in the third, outshooting Lynchburg 14-5 while scooping nine ground balls.

In the fourth, Lynchburg would open the scoring when Dylan Wolfe collected a tally just 29 seconds into the quarter, dropping WNE's lead to just one goal. Western New England would respond when Jared Newall found the back of the net again for the Golden Bears on a Brian Madden assist, regaining Western New England's two goal lead. Once again, the Hornets would respond with the next goal of the game when Brett Rogers came away with the 10^th goal for Lynchburg, giving Western New England just an 11-10 lead. WNE would draw a penalty with just under three minutes to play and would make the Hornets pay when Dylan Hanley hammered a shot into the back of the net, giving WNE a two-goal lead again. Jared Newall would extend on WNE's lead late in the fourth when Noah Rust made a pass to Newall, who found twine for the fourth time on the afternoon, sending WNE to a 13-10 lead. Matt Greer would put the icing on the game, picking up goal number 14, the final goal of the contest for WNE, giving Western New England a 14-10 lead, a lead they would see at the final horn, sending Western New England to the third round of the men's lacrosse championships.

Inside the Lines:

• CCC offensive Player of the Year Matt Greer led Western New England with five points, scoring two goals and picking up three assists in the win. Greer now has 91 points on the season, and 198 in his career. 
• Jared Newall found twine four times in the game, picking up his 60^th goal of the season, leading all Golden Bear goal scorers.
• Dylan Hanley, Matt Greer, Mike Bannon, Jared Newall, and Conor Tracy would pick up multi-goal efforts. 
• GK Carter Randall made 13 saved for Western New England in the win, making a game best five saves in the second quarter, while closing out the fourth quarter with four saves to preserve the win for WNE. 
• WNE went 22-24 in clear attempts and scooped 41 ground balls in the gritty effort. The Golden Bears won 16/27 faceoffs, with Jack Seiter going 16/26 in the faceoff circle. 
• WNE ends Lynchburg's nine game winning streak while the Golden Bears go on a nine-game win streak of their own. 
• The 2022 Golden Bears are the first team in the CCC to advance to the third round of the NCAA Tournament since the 2013 Western New England men's lacrosse team reached the quarterfinal round. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Western New England will play the hosting Union College Dutchman on Sunday, May 15 at 3:00 pm after the Dutchman were able to defeat John Carroll University earlier in the afternoon by a final score of 14-7. 
• Lynchburg sees their season come to an end after a 15-4 record.