Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Top-seeded Western New England used a tough defense late in the game to hold off No. 2 Roger Williams, 11-9, to claim its first Commonwealth Coast Conference Women's Lacrosse Championship title on Saturday at Golden Bear Stadium. With their sixth league title overall in program history, the New England Region No. 9-ranked Golden Bears (16-2 overall) earn the CCC's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division III Tournament which gets under way with first-round action next Saturday, May 9. The NCAA Selection Show will be held at 9:30 p.m. Sunday on NCAA.com.

Senior Kaitlynn Stevens led all scorers with six points on three goals and three assists while junior Taylor Scialdone pumped in four goals and an assist to pace the WNE offense. Stevens becomes the third Golden Bear in team history to surpass 300 points in her career here; she now has 196 goals and 108 assists for 304 points.

Roger Williams (12-5), which is 10th in the latest NCAA regional rankings, was led by Kelsey Rahilly who had a goal and four assists, becoming the Hawks' all-time scoring leader with 306 points. Kaelin Hogan tied Scialdone with a game-best four goals.

Defensively, Western New England held the Hawks off the scoreboard for the final 4 minutes and 9 seconds after Hogan cut into WNE's lead to 10-9. Senior goalie Emily Castleman made 12 saves in the Golden Bears cage, including a free-position shot by McKenna Everding to preserve a 6-5 lead going into halftime and several stops from close range in the second half.

Junior teammates Tori Cirocco and Brooke Kumnick connected for a nifty goal at the 18:39 mark of the second half to put the Golden Bears ahead to stay. Working the right side of the cage, Cirocco fed a tough pass through traffic with Kumnick making a terrific catch, then releasing a shot into the upper-half of the goal for an 8-7 advantage.

Cirocco took a pass from freshman Julia Winer and made it 9-7 with a man-up goal at 12:05 before Hogan scored at 10:35 to close the Hawks within 9-8.

The teams traded goals again as Scialdone pumped in her 52nd goal at 9:15 while Hogan netted her 29th about five minutes later. Senior tri-captain Jessica Scannapieco collected one of her eight draw controls on the afternoon after Hogan's tally to set the tone for the Golden Bears' possession game the rest of the way, because RWU had just one possession that resulted promptly in a turnover in the final 4:09.

Cirocco netted her 36th goal with 76 seconds left to punctuate the Golden Bears' fourth-straight win, and avenge last season's 19-11 loss to the Hawks in the CCC Semifinals.

Roger Williams darted to a 3-1 advantage after the opening 6:43 of play. Hogan scored twice and Deven Machette during the run.

The teams traded goals over the next five minutes before the Golden Bears reeled off a game-best four-straight tallies to take a 6-4 lead with 6:45 to go in the first half. Stevens started it with three goals in a row, including a man-down marker at 13:20 and a man-up tally at 9:56 to give WNE its first lead of the day. Rahilly scored, unassisted, at 2:03 before halftime to pull the Hawks within 6-5.

The second half opened with RWU scoring back-to-back goals by Samantha Davenport at 27:52 and Everding at 26:16. The Hawks led 7-6, but that would be the last time they would do so.

Western New England responded with a 3-0 run of its own to go up 9-7 and stay ahead for good, as Scialdone tied it 7-7 and then Kumnick, Cirocco found the net.

The Golden Bears won New England Women's Lacrosse Alliance titles in 2002 and 2004-07 when they qualified for the NCAA Tournament in those same seasons.

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