Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Western New England University's magical run in the 2014 campaign came to an end on Wednesday with a 19-13 defeat at the hands of nationally No. 15-ranked Springfield College in NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship first round action at Stagg Field. The Golden Bears fall to 10-8 while the Pride improve to 15-3 and advance to play SUNY Cortland--a 20-6 winner over Keuka College today--in the second round.

Seniors Owen Caruso, Adam Knapton led Western New England with three goals and an assist for four points each, followed by reigning Commonwealth Coast Conference and Eastern College Athletic Conference New England Offensive Player of the Week freshman Keegan Dudeck with two goals and two assists. In addition, senior Sean Lawton contributed two goals and an assist, ending his WNE career just shy of the 100-goal plateau (96).

Ryon Lynch led the Pride with four goals and three assists, while Bryce Serriello had four goals and two helpers and Devin Abad had two goals and two assists.

After spotting the Pride a 4-0 lead, the Golden Bears climbed back into the contest on Dudeck's first point of the afternoon when he fed Caruso with his 21st goal of the season with 2 minutes and 35 seconds left and then the midfielder found the back of the net himself with just a second remaining on the first-quarter clock.

Opening the second frame, Abad received a pass from Serriello on the right side and let go a bounce-shot that tucked up underneath the crossbar to help Springfield regain their three-goal lead with 12:33 left. Just 2:29 later, Dom Roberto (3 goals, 1 assist) buried a shot from the left alley to put Springfield up 6-2 with 10:04 remaining in the first half.

Midway through the second quarter, the Pride capitalized on a man-up advantage when Serriello caught a pass from Abad and fired a shot that got past the WNE goalie to push the Pride's lead to five.

With a man-advantage of their own, the Golden Bears' Knapton deposited a shot from the left side to make it 7-3 in Springfield's favor. Just minutes later, Caruso found the back of the net for his second goal of the day to cut the Golden Bears' deficit to three--but that would be the closest they would get for the rest of the way.

Springfield, which led wire-to-wire, was able to take a 10-4 halftime advantage on the strength of a strong possession game, winning 14 of 15 face-offs at the "X."

Both teams scored nine goals in the second half, with the Golden Bears getting within five goals on five occasions. The first time that happened was in the opening minutes of the third quarter when Serriello staked the Pride to their largest lead at the time, 11-4, before Lawton notched his first goal at 13:48 and classmate Colton Craig scored the first of his two tallies at 12:14 to make it 11-6. Craig's goal came when he scooped up the ground ball off a rebound shot from senior Justin McKinney and then he shot the ball into the vacated net in one motion.

Junior Brandon Body made 14 stops on 33 shots on goal from the Pride, who got 12 saves from senior goalkeeper Connor Nash.

Western New England had its man-up offense going with three tallies on four attempts while SC went 2-for-8 in such opportunities.

Springfield enjoyed a 34-19 bulge in ground balls, led by Branden Fernandez with a game-best nine and he won 21 of 30 face-offs. Senior Jesse DeLucca had four to top the Golden Bears cause.

Despite starting the season with an uncharacteristic 1-6 record, the Golden Bears rattled off nine wins in their next 10--including a 13-8 comeback triumph over nationally then-No. 11 ranked Endicott College to capture their third consecutive CCC championship.