SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – In another barn burner between two top city rivals, third-ranked Western New England College held on for a thrilling 10-9 men's lacrosse victory over visiting Springfield College Wednesday afternoon (April 18) in a battle of unbeaten Pilgrim League teams.

The Golden Bears kept their perfect record intact by moving to 11-0 overall and 5-0 in the league. The Pride falls to 5-8 after losing its first league game in six outings.

Junior attacker Bryan Cofrin (Londonderry, NH) led Western New England College with three goals and second assists. He scored what proved to be the winning score with 9:54 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Junior midfielder Jon Hayes (Waltham, MA) also tallied three goals while senior attack player Adam Cherry (Westfield, MA) notched two goals and a pair of assists.

Freshman attacker Kyle Gable (Somers, CT) led Springfield with three goals and an assist while sophomore attacker Jake Beebe (Sudbury, MA) also scored three times. Junior midfielder Greg Welch (Peabody, MA) added a goal and two assists.

Western New England College led 2-1 after the opening period and 6-3 at half-time in the hard-hitting contest. The Golden Bears led by four goals twice in the third period, the last time at 8-4 when Cherry fired home a shot at the 6:04 mark. The Pride came back to get within 9-6 entering the final stanza.

SC rallied when Beebe and Welch scored in 2:30 span early in the fourth quarter to move within 9-8 with 10:32 remaining in the game.

Cofrin then hit the back of the net with an assist from Cherry on a man-up situation just 38 seconds later.

The Pride roared back when Gable blasted a shot with an assist from Toutain with 7:01 left in the game, but neither team could find the back of the net the remainder of the game.

WNEC junior goalie Chris Body (Newtown, CT) finished with seven saves, including a key stop late in the final period. Springfield senior goalie Kyle Cloutier (South Hadley, MA) had a solid performance compiling 11 saves.

Last year Western New England College defeated Springfield (10-5) in the regular season match-up, but dropped a 12-11 double overtime decision to the Pride in the Pilgrim League Tournament championship game. 

Western New England College 10, Springfield 9

Scoring Summary
Springfield College (5-8)                     1 2 3 3 -  9    
Western New England College (11-0)    2 4 3 1 - 10
    
Springfield College Pride
Goals – Jake Beebe 3, Kyle Gable 3, Joe Macchi, Adam Toutain, Greg Welch
Assists – Greg Welch 2, Kyle Gable, Tyler Montgomery, Adam Toutain
Saves – Kyle Cloutier 11

Western New England College Golden Bears
Goals – Bryan Cofrin 3, Jon Hayes 3, Adam Cherry 2, Travis Brown, Mike Kelly
Assists – Adam Cherry 2, Bryan Cofrin 2, Travis Brown, Tim Heffernan, Rob Ostrem
Saves – Chris Body 7