Breen Powers Golden Bears Past Bison, 16-11

Western New England improves to 3-2 in CCC play behind Breen's ten-point performance

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (April 10, 2018) – Led by a career performance from junior Kristen Breen (Ellington, Conn.), the Western New England University women's lacrosse team earned a 16-11 victory over Nichols College on Tuesday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at Golden Bear Stadium. 

Top Performers
• Breen continued her strong play with a career-high ten points on nine goals and one assist to go with four ground balls and three caused turnovers.
• Freshman Alex Sacco (Concord, N.H.) tallied one goal, one assist, four caused turnovers and three ground balls.
• Sophomore Madison Lemire (Ellington, Conn.) secured a team-high six draws for the Golden Bears.

• Nichols senior midfielder Melissa LaFleur (Chicopee, Mass.) led the way for the Bison, as she recorded two goals and two assists while also adding a game-high nine draw controls, four ground balls and three caused turnovers.
• Junior Kirsten Sullivan (Arlington, Mass.) registered a hat trick, and senior Lindsay O'Connell (Danvers, Mass.) totaled two goals, one assist, five ground balls, three draws and three caused turnovers.

Game Review
Nichols got off to a strong start, as the Bison opened up a 4-1 advantage over the first 6:50 of the contest with goals from sophomore Miranda Smith (Methuen, Mass.), Sullivan, sophomore Danielle Kozloski (Pepperell, Mass.) and LaFleur.

Freshman Ashley Hudson (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) scored for the Golden Bears at the 22:31 mark, sparking a 7-0 Western New England run that saw the Golden Bears establish an 8-4 lead with 11:39 to play in the half. Breen tallied three goals during the spurt, while freshmen Danielle Skates (Berlin, Conn.), Sacco, and Reilly Miller (Goshen, N.Y.) also found the back of the cage.

Nichols trailed 10-7 at the break after outscoring Western New England 3-2 over the final 11:08 of the period.

The two teams went back and forth during the first 13 minutes of the second half, as the Bison still trailed by three (13-10) following LaFleur's second goal with 16:49 remaining in the contest.

Smith scored with 10:52 on the clock to cut Nichols' deficit to two (13-11), but the visitors would get no closer.

Western New England ended the game with a 3-0 run, which featured two more goals from Breen, to extend the final margin to five.

Notes
• The Golden Bears outshot the Bison 37-28 and held a 32-27 edge in ground balls.
• Western New England freshman Kaitlyn Marchant (Londonderry, N.H.) and senior Shannon McFadden (West Islip, N.Y.) split the goaltending duties. Marchant got the start and earned her first career win after making six saves in the first half, while McFadden played the final 30 minutes in the cage and totaled eight saves to help the Golden Bears secure the win.
• Breen has recorded 19 points over her last three games, and she now leads the team with 26 points this season. 

Up Next
Both teams will be back in action on Thursday with non-conference contests, as Western New England (3-9, 3-2 CCC) hosts Husson and Nichols (2-7, 0-5 CCC) travels to Elms.