Box Score ALFRED, N.Y.--Sophomores Justin Bard and Frank Medlicott combined for nine goals and five assists, and Western New England University used a strong second half, to capture a 14-13 victory Sunday over host Alfred University to capture the 2015 Eastern College Athletic Conference Men's Lacrosse Division III Championship at Yunevich Stadium at Merrill Field. This marked Western New England's fourth ECAC crown in team history (2004-05-11) in the team's fourth regional appearance.  Boxscore

The top-seeded Golden Bears end their season with a 14-6 record while the second-seeded Saxons end up 13-4.
 

Bard tied his career high with six goals and added three assists to set a personal record with nine total points, leading all student-athletes in scoring this afternoon. Medlicott had a hat trick to go along with two assists, and classmate Keegan Dudeck had a goal and two assists.

Sophomore John Winchell paced the Alfred offense with six points on two goals and four assists, and freshman Jake Lynch scored a hat trick. Sophomore Derek Bishopp (2 goals, 1 assist), sophomore Nick Skibitsky (2 goals, 1 assist) and junior Tanner Morse (1 goal, 2 assists) joined Lynch with three points each.

Western New England junior Taylor Dubose scored what proved to be the game-winning goal on a pass from Medlicott with 3 minutes and 17 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Winchell assisted on Skibitsky's man-up goal with 22 seconds left to make it 14-13, but the Golden Bears were able to secure the win after freshman goalie Steven Kerr (15 saves for a career-high) made a game-saving stop from his knees on Nicolas Wood's shot following an Alfred face-off win.

The Saxons took a 10-7 lead going into the halftime break, but the Golden Bears roared back in the second half by scoring seven goals while holding the home team to just three. The Golden Bears came out in the second half fired up and scored five unanswered goals to start the third stanza and grabbed the lead 12-10 behind Bard's three goals, two from Medlicott and one from Dudeck during the stretch that began with a goal to close the first half. Finally, AU closed the gap with 4:51 to go in the quarter as Lynch scored his hat trick.

Senior Jon Bota (2 assists) found the back of the cage on a feed from Dudeck at the 10:06 mark of the fourth quarter to put the Golden Bears in the lead for the rest of the contest--76 seconds after Wood had tied things up 12-12.

In the opening minutes the Golden Bears jumped out to a 3-1 lead on goals by Bard, junior James Kolesar (2 goals) and Bard again, but that was quickly erased by the surging Saxons offense throughout the rest of the first quarter. With 2:16 to go in the opening quarter, Bishopp sheared through the WNE defense and netted a man-down goal and grabbed the lead for AU, 4-3.

The second quarter seemed it would be the same as the first, as both teams answered each other's scoring runs. However, the Saxons were able to rattle off four goals in a row, including two with a man-up, to put a little cushion between them and the Golden Bears.

Junior David Cedrone tied classmate Wade Modestow with five ground balls. The former was 8-for-15 in face-offs while the latter won 9 of 13 draws at the "X."

Wood later netted his 100th career goal in his final game for the Saxons. Sophomore Jimmy Pratti won 14-of-29 face-offs and led AU with eight ground balls. Junior Max Wilson set the game-high standard in caused turnovers with four.

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(Editor's note: Alfred Athletics contributed to this game recap.)