Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Junior Patrick Dillon scored the go-ahead goal midway through the fourth goal as the Western New England University men's lacrosse team held off visiting Roger Williams University, 13-12, in a Commonwealth Coast Conference semifinal game on Wednesday evening at Golden Bear Stadium. The three-time defending CCC champion and second-seeded Golden Bears (12-5 overall) will travel to Beverly on Saturday to take on No. 1 seed and nationally No. 9-ranked Endicott College in the conference title game, starting at 1 p.m.

With the score tied 10-10, Dillon took a feed from behind the cage by sophomore Justin Bard and ripped a low shot from about 12 yards away through the legs of goalie Luke Aubrey to put Western New England on top 11-10 with 7 minutes and 33 seconds left. Senior captain Garrett Mullins and sophomore Max Berteletti added insurance goals at the 5:49 and 3:32 marks to put the Golden Bears up by three goals.

After Berteletti's man-up tally, No. 3 seed Roger Williams (13-5) put extreme pressure on the WNE cage after winning the ensuing face-off--releasing four consecutive shots before Caleb Kenney hit the mark with 97 seconds left to make it 13-11. The Hawks controlled the next face-off again but missed two more wide shots to give WNE possession with under a minute to play. But the Golden Bears had a failed clear, which Tim Kelly capitalized with a goal with 9 seconds left to pull RWU within one. After Patrick Holland's fourth consecutive face-off win, RWU had the final possession to try to get the game-tying goal but Holland lost control of the ball while trying to go through traffic and the final horn sounded. Roger Williams hit the post or crossbar three times in the fourth quarter.

Bard led all scorers with five goals and an assist, while Dillon and Mullins both recorded two goals and an assist. Junior Taylor Dubose scored a pair of goals and sophomore Frank Medlicott also had two points.

Will Siefert paced the RWU offense with four goals, followed by AJ Core, Kelly and Kenney with two apiece. Nick Gagnon contributed a game-best six assists.

Both goalies had a stellar game with acrobatic stops. Western New England senior Brandon Body made 13 saves and had four ground balls. Aubrey finished with 10 saves.

The second half began with players from both sides taking control. With his team down 6-3, Siefert scored twice on two assists by Gagnon within 1:38 to make it 6-5. But the Golden Bears responded with three goals in a row--all by Bard--to put WNE ahead 9-5. The third quarter ended with Core scoring twice in 71 seconds to make it 9-7 in favor of the Golden Bears.

After the teams traded goals to open the final period, Eddie Hill (6 ground balls) and Kenney scored 19 seconds apart to tie the contest at 10 for the Hawks with 12:21 to go. Western New England, however, would not bend nor give up the lead. Junior David Cedrone, who won 16-of-24 face-offs and scooped up a game-best 12 ground balls on the heels of being named defensive player of the week by the CCC and for USILA Division III North, won another battle at the "X" to give WNE possession and enable Golden Bears coach John Klepacki to call timeout to help stop the Hawks momentum.

Western New England enjoyed a 3-0 lead after the opening quarter on tallies by Bard, Dubose and Dillon. The Golden Bears doubled up the Hawks at halftime, 6-3.

Roger Williams outshot WNE 42-38 and 25-23 on goal, but the Golden Bears dominated ground balls (40-24).

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