Golden Bears Fall on the Road at No. 13 Bates, 20-8

Cocks wins 19-of-30 faceoffs and collects game-high 10 ground balls

LEWISTON, Maine (March 12, 2019) – The Western New England University men's lacrosse team was unable to recover from an early deficit as the Golden Bears fell to No. 13 nationally ranked Bates College, 20-8, on Tuesday night in non-conference action at Garcelon Field.

Top Performers
Junior midfielder Nick Gamba (East Islip, N.Y.) paced the Western New England offense with three goals and one assist, while freshman attackman Mike Bannon (Edmond, Okla.) added one goal and one assist for the Golden Bears.

Senior Hunter Cocks (Walden, N.Y.) won 19-of-30 faceoffs and collected a game-high ten ground balls.

Bates was led by junior attackman Matt Chlastawa (Westfield, Mass.), who produced a game-high nine points with five goals and four assists.

Junior Otis Klingbeil (Powell, Ohio) and sophomore Jack Scribner (Falmouth, Maine) were also key contributors for the Bobcats with three points (two goals, one assist) each.

Game Review
Scribner netted the first goal of the game just over a minute after the opening faceoff, but Western New England tied the score at the 12:32 mark, courtesy of sophomore Jared Newall (Stratford, Conn.). Cocks then won the ensuing faceoff, raced down the field and buried his first goal of the season nine seconds later to give the Golden Bears their only lead of the night.

The Bobcats closed out the first quarter with six unanswered goals, including three from Chlastawa, to open up a 7-2 advantage heading into the second period.

Western New England received goals from Gamba, Bannon and sophomore Mitch Weiss (Westfield, Mass.) in the second quarter, but the Golden Bears still faced a five-goal deficit (10-5) at halftime.

Bates continued to add to its cushion in the third quarter, as the home team utilized five different goal scorers in the frame (including Chlastawa and Klingbeil) to push the lead to eight (15-7).

Western New England's lone goal in the fourth quarter came off the stick of John Shahpazian (New Providence, N.J.), as the Bobcats outscored the Golden Bears 5-1 to extend the final margin to 20-8.

Notes
• Bates outshot Western New England 49-43, while the Golden Bears held a 42-40 edge in ground balls.
• Both teams recorded four man-up goals, as Western New England went 4-for-10 with a man advantage and Bates went 4-for-6.
• Bannon, the three-time reigning CCC Rookie of the Week, has posted multi-point efforts in all four games this season.

Up Next
Western New England (2-2) heads down south to Tampa, Fla. for its next two games, beginning with a contest against Nazareth on Friday night at 7 p.m. Bates (4-1) travels to Trinity on Saturday.