Late Surge Lifts Western New England to 14-10 Win over Curry

Golden Bears outscore Colonels 7-1 over final 20 minutes of play

MILTON, Mass. (April 16, 2019) – The Western New England University men's lacrosse team surged past Curry College in the second half to claim a 14-10 victory over the Colonels on Tuesday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at Walter M. Katz Field.

Top Performers
Western New England received four-point efforts from sophomore Matt Greer (South Windsor, Conn.) and junior John Shahpazian (New Providence, N.J.), as Greer scored two goals and dished out two assists, and Shahpazian registered a hat trick to go along with one assist.

Sophomore Jared Newall (Stratford, Conn.) also scored three goals, while freshman Mike Bannon (Edmond, Okla.) facilitated the offense with a season-high six assists.

Senior Hunter Cocks (Walden, N.Y.) won 12-of-19 faceoffs, and sophomore goalie Sean McCusker (Northport, N.Y.) finished with 14 saves.

Curry was led by senior midfielder Devin Newell (Medford, Mass.), who produced two goals and one assist. Juniors Kyle Ton (Norwich, Conn.) and Cameron Nigro (Scarborough, Maine) chipped in with two goals each for the Colonels.

Game Review
Curry struck first as senior MJ Urbano (Wakefield, Mass.) opened the scoring just over a minute into the contest, but Western New England answered on an unassisted goal by senior Jared Ward (Littleton, Mass.) at the 10:37 mark.

Greer and Newall found the back of the net at 9:23 and 6:30, respectively, as the Golden Bears opened up a 3-1 lead.

Late in the opening frame, Nigro (4:38) and Newall (3:33) scored for their respective teams as Western New England held a 4-2 edge after 15 minutes of play.

The Colonels used a strong second quarter to tie the contest heading into halftime. After the home team fell behind 5-2 on Ward's second goal of the game at the 14:16 mark, Ton and junior Harrison Fallon (Wrentham, Mass.) scored just 23 seconds apart (12:26, 12:03) to cut the deficit to one (5-4).

Greer pushed the margin back to two with an unassisted goal at the 8:53 mark, before Curry tied it up at 6-6 following tallies by sophomore Matthew Scahill (Gales Ferry, Conn.) and Ton. The Golden Bears briefly regained the lead courtesy of freshman Noah Rust (Windham, N.H.), but Nigro leveled the contest with just under four minutes remaining in the half, and the score remained the same the rest of the period.

Curry then pulled ahead with goals from junior Andrew DeLeary (Wakefield, Mass.) and Newell early in the third quarter.

Still trailing 9-7 late in the frame, Western New England utilized a 4-0 spurt over the final 5:21 of the third period to regain the lead and take an 11-9 advantage into the fourth quarter. Sophomore Conor Tracy (Walpole, Mass.) got it started, before Shahpazian scored three consecutive goals, with the final one coming in the closing seconds of the quarter.

Western New England carried its momentum into the fourth quarter, as Newall, senior Tim Breau (Lima, N.Y.) and freshman Murphy Hartmann (Anthem, Ariz.) recorded goals to extend the Golden Bears' lead to 14-9.

McCusker and the WNE defense nearly shut out the Colonels in the fourth quarter, but Newell was able to end Curry's scoring drought with a goal in the final minute.

Notes
• Western New England outscored Curry 7-1 over the final 20:21 of play.
• McCusker made a game-high five saves in the fourth quarter.

Up Next
Both teams will be back in action on Friday, as Western New England (10-4, 7-0 CCC) returns home to host Colorado College, and Curry (7-8, 4-4 CCC) welcomes Johnson & Wales to Katz Field.