Second Quarter Surge Pushes Western New England Past Men's Lacrosse

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Western New England University men's lacrosse team erased an early deficit with an eight-goal second quarter as the Golden Bears (6-1) defeated Wentworth Institute of Technology (3-5), 16-8 on Wednesday evening.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

SHOTS:  WIT 33; WNE 51
GROUND BALLS:  WIT 32; WNE 42
FACE-OFFS WON:  WIT 12; WNE 16
PENALTIES/MINUTES:  WIT 0/0:00; WNE 2/1:30
EXTRA-MAN OPPS:  WIT 0-2; WNE 0-0
GOALIE SAVES:  WIT Jack Munroe, 7; WNE Carter Randall, 7
WIT GOAL LEADERS:  Ben Coakley, 2; Andrew diPalma, 2
WIT ASSIST LEADERS:  Ben Coakley, 1; Liam Carroll, 1
WIT GROUND BALL LEADERS:  Danny Bartosiewicz, 8
WIT CAUSED TURNOVER LEADERS:  Danny Bartosiewicz, 2

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Wentworth took a 2-0 lead with 5:43 left in the opening stanza, thanks to goals from juniors Sam Prunier (Hollis, N.H.) and Calvin McKenna (Lake Tapps, Wash.). Western New England cut the lead to 2-1 with a goal 89 seconds later and scored the first two goals of the second quarter to take a 3-2 lead.
• Senior Andrew diPalma (West Orange, N.J.) evened the score with a goal 35 seconds later, however, the Golden Bears used a 4-0 spurt to take a 7-3 lead with 9:44 left in the half.
• DiPalma and senior Ben Coakley (Flemington, N.J.) answered with goals two minutes apart to make it a 7-5 game with 6:06 left before Western New England scored twice in a span of 37 seconds to push its lead to 9-5. Coakley scored with 3:28 left to make it 9-6 at the break.
• Western New England scored the first three goals of the third quarter to extend its lead to 12-6 before freshman Liam Carroll (Brookfield, Conn.) closed out the quarter with a goal with 6:28 left. The Golden Bears scored the first four goals of the fourth quarter while freshman Matt Shultz (Pawling, N.Y.) found the back of the net in the fourth quarter for the Leopards.
• Coakley finished with two goals and an assist while diPalma scored twice and Carroll had a goal and an assist. Coakley also recorded his 150th career point, moving him into sixth place in program history. Senior Danny Bartosiewicz (North Grafton, Mass.) scooped up eight ground balls and caused two turnovers. Junior Jack Munroe (Mansfield, Mass.) made seven saves.

SERIES NOTES:

• Tonight marked the 14th all-time meeting between the two schools with Western New England holding a 14-0 series advantage.

NEXT UP:

• Wentworth hosts Salve Regina Saturday at 7:00 pm.

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