Western New England Falls to UNE in CCC Action, 18-15

Breen paces Golden Bears with five goals, Mazza (4 points) & Ruby (3 points) also contribute offensively

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (March 30, 2019) – The University of New England women's lacrosse team pulled ahead with a 3-0 run to start the second half and held on late to secure an 18-15 win over Western New England University on Saturday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at Golden Bear Stadium.

Top Performers
Senior attack Kristen Breen (Ellington, Conn.) scored a game-high five goals for Western New England, while freshman Liz Mazza (East Longmeadow, Mass.) and junior Eileen Ruby (New Fairfield, Conn.) recorded four and three points respectively.

UNE senior attack Nichole Carvalho (South Kingstown, R.I.) paced the Nor'easters with four goals and one assist. Sophomore midfielder Molly Camelo (Melrose, Mass.) added four goals and five draw controls for the visitors, while junior Anna Stowell (Sutton, N.H.) and sophomore Keara Dwyer (Cazenovia, N.Y.) contributed three goals each.

Game Review
The first half was a back and forth affair, with Western New England striking first at the 24:59 mark when Breen wrapped around the cage and fired a low shot past UNE sophomore goalkeeper Taylor Hopkins (Pelham, N.Y.).

Dwyer (23:47) and Stowell (23:19) both answered for the visitors as UNE took its first lead, and the Nor'easters opened up a 4-2 advantage following Stowell's second goal with 20:03 left in the opening half.

Western New England then utilized a 3-0 run with goals from freshman Hannah Jarvis (Westfield, Mass.), sophomore Carley Piemonte (East Longmeadow, Mass.) and Ruby to regain a 5-4 edge at the 12:08 mark.

After the Nor'easters scored three of the next four goals to claim a 7-6 advantage, Breen notched her second of the contest on a feed from Mazza with 2:47 on the clock to knot the score (7-7) heading into the break.

UNE seized the momentum early in the second half with two goals from Carvalho and one from sophomore Julia Benjamin (Tolland, Conn.) to open up a 10-7 lead.

The Golden Bears were able to close the gap to one (11-10) on a Kaitlyn Hutter (Stamford, Conn.) free position tally at the 18:27 mark, but UNE responded with a 5-1 surge that featured five different goal scorers to push the lead to five (16-11) with 10:07 to play.

Still trailing by the same margin (18-13) with under a minute to go, the Golden Bears utilized goals from Mazza and fellow freshman Samantha Vitka (Stratford, Conn.) to get to within three.

Western New England would get no closer, however, as the Nor'easters held on down the stretch to secure the win.

Notes
• Western New England outshot UNE 44-40, while UNE held a slight edge in draw controls (18-17).
• The Golden Bears were successful on just 2-of-14 free position shots, as Hopkins finished with 13 saves for the visitors.

Up Next
Western New England (4-5, 1-2 CCC) hits the road next Thursday for a matchup with Nichols College, while UNE (5-5, 2-0 CCC) hosts Wentworth on Tuesday.