Ward & Weiss Earn NEILA All-New England Accolades
Golden Bear duo named to third team
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (May 14, 2019) – Senior attackman Jared Ward (Littleton, Mass.) and sophomore defenseman Mitch Weiss (Westfield, Mass.) of the Western New England University men's lacrosse team have both earned All-New England honors from the New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (NEILA), the organization announced on Tuesday.
Ward, the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Offensive Player of the Year, capped his career with an impressive senior campaign. The Littleton, Mass. native compiled a CCC-high 84 points with 47 goals and 37 assists while producing multi-point efforts in 16 of the 19 games he appeared in this spring.
Ward racked up a season-high ten points with five goals and five assists in league wins over Nichols (4/4) and Curry (4/30), while also turning in an eight-point effort in a victory at Wentworth (3/24) to go with a trio of seven-point performances against Clark (2/23), UNE (3/30) and Gordon (4/10).
Weiss earns All-Region honors after a breakout sophomore season as a key defender for the Golden Bears. The Westfield, Mass. native was also selected as the CCC Defensive Player of the Year with 64 ground balls and 14 caused turnovers.
Weiss helped anchor a Western New England defensive unit that surrendered just 8.25 goals per game in CCC contests, the second lowest average in league play. He also played an important role in the Golden Bears' clearing game, which converted at a CCC-best 86.9% rate.
Ward and Weiss account for two of the four All-NEILA selections from the CCC, along with Grant Garrity and Hayden Souza of Endicott.
The Golden Bears (14-6) defeated the Gulls 9-8 in the CCC championship game on May 3, before falling to defending national champion Wesleyan University 11-8 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last Wednesday.
