Western New England Uses Balanced Offensive Effort to Take Down Wentworth, 20-6

Nine Golden Bears record multiple points, led by Phillips (six) and Canning (five)

BOSTON, Mass. (April 22, 2017) – Led by a balanced offensive effort that featured nine multi-point performers, the Western New England University women's lacrosse team built a 14-3 first half lead and cruised to a 20-6 victory over the Wentworth Institute of Technology on Saturday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at Sweeney Field. 

Top Performers
• Junior Rachel Canning (Lincoln Park, N.J.) led the way for the Golden Bears with a team-high five goals, while freshman Lindsey Phillips (East Longmeadow, Mass.) scored two goals and set up four others.
• Freshman Madison Barron (Lebanon, Pa.) recorded four points (three goals, one assist), while graduate student Emma Norden (Belchertown, Mass.), sophomore Kristen Breen (Ellington, Conn.) and freshmen Marissa Staffu (Shrub Oak, N.Y.) and Shannen Barrett (Rensselaer, N.Y.) recorded three points each.

• Sophomore Brooke Paradis (Pelham, N.H.) paced the Leopards with two goals and six draw controls, while junior Sam Webb (Duxbury, Mass.) finished with one goal, one assist and a game-high six ground balls.

Game Review
• Phillips opened the scoring for Western New England just 1:02 into the contest, before setting up Breen for the game's second goal 14 seconds later. The Golden Bears continued to roll early, racing out to a 7-0 lead through the first 5:34 of the first half.
• Sophomore Leah Cummins (Plymouth, Mass.) got Wentworth on the board at the 21:32 mark as part of a 3-1 Leopards' run that saw the home team pull to within five (8-3) following Paradis' first goal with 17:28 remaining in the half.
• Western New England took control from there, however, outscoring Wentworth 6-0 over the remainder of the period to claim a 14-3 advantage at the break.
• The Golden Bears put the game out of reach with a 5-0 run to start the second half, with five different players finding the back of the net – Norden, Canning, Barron, Barrett and freshman Ariella Ruggiero (Valhalla, N.Y.).
• Wentworth registered a late 3-0 run, before Staffu tallied the final goal of contest with 2:08 to play.

Notes
• Western New England's 20 goals represent a season-high for the Golden Bears, while the team's six goals allowed are a season-low.
• The Golden Bears outshot the Leopards 33-20 and held a 16-12 advantage in draw controls.

Up Next
Western New England (6-10, 3-4 CCC) returns home on Tuesday to host Salve Regina in its regular season finale, while Wentworth (2-13, 0-7 CCC) wraps up its regular season slate at Roger Williams.