Bannon, Hanley Lead Men's Lacrosse Into 12th Straight CCC Championship Game

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.  (May 3, 2023) – The Western New England Men's Lacrosse team took on the Salve Regina Seahawks tonight in the CCC Semifinal round. Mike Bannon would total six points (five goals and one assist), setting the WNE Men's Lacrosse career points record in the process (reaching 268 points) and Dylan Hanley tallied eight points (two goals and six assists) while setting the WNE Men's Lacrosse single season assist record (with 58 assists), in a 23-11 win over the Seahawks. 

Records:

• Western New England: 11-8
• Salve Regina: 11-7

How it Happened:

WNE would score the first goal of the game, 3:24 into the first, as Dylan Hanley would assist Mike Bannon on his record-breaking goal, to put WNE up one. Justin Haverly would win the ensuing faceoff, leading to Ryan Reilly netting a goal to tie the game at one a piece. Both teams would score again over the next minute, as Chris Catuosco would win the faceoff leading to a Ben Kolb goal. Then, Kieran Hughes would win the ensuing faceoff, setting up a Reilly goal from Jack Naglieri, to tie the game back up at two. Bannon would add another goal from Zachary Mein after another Catuoscofaceoff win, to put WNE back in front, with 9:13 left in the first quarter. WNE would go on to score five more unanswered goals throughout the remainder of the first, with Michael Knapp assisting Jack Houlden for the first of the five. A minute later Mein would cause a turnover, leading to a Hanley goal from Bannon. With 3:32 left, following a save from Golden Bear goalkeeper, Carter Randall, Brian Madden would assist Hanley for his second consecutive goal. Houlden would score the last two goals of the first, just 15 seconds apart, to put WNE up 8-2 heading into the second quarter.

Salve would try to gain some momentum as Liam Cooney would score the first goal of the second quarter, but WNE would answer that with three goals of their own. Randall made a pair of saves over the next four minutes, before Bannonwould score his third on the day, coming from Hanley. 11 seconds later, Catuosco would assist Bannon for a goal, after winning the faceoff. Knapp would cause another turnover, leading to Hanley assisting Ben Kolb for the goal, with 5:57 left in the first half. On the ensuing faceoff, Haverly would win the faceoff, collect the ground ball on his way down field and fire a shot on net, scoring all in the matter of seven seconds. WNE would answer Haverly's goal with Catuoscowinning the next faceoff, leading to Mein's first goal on the day. After Sean Farland won the following faceoff, Andrew Huta would pick up an assist, 14 seconds later, as Bannon would score another goal. Just 29 seconds later, following Farland winning the following faceoff, Mein would assist Houlden, putting WNE up 14-4. The teams would trade goals over the next minute and a half, as Cooney would score from Naglieri for SRU and Mein would net a goal for WNE. Houlden would net the last goal of the half with 1:47 remaining, coming from Thomas Labbe. Randall would make a save and Salve goalie, William Kein would make a pair over the rest of the half to keep the score at 16-5 with WNE leading at the half.

After scoring eight goals in each of the first two quarters, WNE would only go on to score four in the third quarter, while Salve would score one. Each goalie would make a pair of saves to start the third, until the 10:29 mark, where Hanleywould assist Houlden for his sixth goal on the game. Two minutes later, James Wrynn would score his first of the game, coming from Hanley. Neither team would score over the next four and a half minutes, until Reilly would score for SRU. WNE answered shortly after as Catuosco would win the ensuing faceoff, leading to Mein netting a goal 40 seconds later. With 1:31 left in the third, Ben Kolb would score the last goal of the quarter, coming from Wrynn, to put WNE up 20-6 heading into the fourth.

Salve's Maxwell Van Winkle would score the first goal of the fourth quarter, with 10:35 remaining in the contest after two saves in net from Kein. Wrynn would answer shortly after with a Golden Bear goal. Two minutes later, Van Winkle would score again for the Seahawks. Bryce Busa would score 31 seconds later, after a Rocco DeSimone faceoff win for WNE. A minute later, Jonathon Salsbury would make a save in net for WNE, but Rich Gneiding would fire a shot past him soon after for Salve to make the score 22-9 with 5:22 left. Brett Souza would score for the Seahawks with 3:30 left, for the team's 10^th goal on the day. 40 seconds later, Tim Kolb would score a goal for WNE, coming from Wrynn, following a DeSimone faceoff win. A minute later, Salve's Gneiding would score the last goal of the day. Salsbury would make a save in the final seconds as WNE would take down Salve, 23-11.

Inside The Crease:

• WNE improved to 11-8 on the season, with their ninth win against a conference opponent.
• Hanley led the offense with eight points (two goals and six assists), followed by six points from Bannon (five goals and one assist) and Houlden (six goals)
• Mike Bannon set the WNE Men's Lacrosse career points record, while Dylan Hanley set the single season assist program record in the win.
• WNE gathered 42 ground balls while Salve would collect 33.
• Randall made nine saves over the first three quarters, while Salsbury made a pair in the fourth.
• Salve Regina was led on attack by Ryan Reilly with three goals.

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Western New England will travel to Endicott College on Saturday, May 6 for the CCC Championship game.