SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (February 27, 2016) - The Springfield College women's lacrosse team outscored Western New England University 5-1 in the second half to secure a 9-6 victory this afternoon in non-conference action at Golden Bear Stadium.
 
Western New England raced out to a 5-0 lead midway through the first half and held a 5-4 edge at the break, but Springfield took control of the contest by scoring the first four goals of the second half and held on to defeat the Golden Bears in their 2016 season opener.
 
Senior Brooke Kumnick (Granby, Conn.) led Western New England with four points on three goals and one assist, while classmate Taylor Scialdone (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) added three points (two goals, one assist) and sophomore Julia Winer (Longmeadow, Mass.) chipped in with two assists.  
 
Sophomore goalie Shannon McFadden (West Islip, N.Y.) registered ten saves on 19 Springfield shots, and her counterpart, junior Gabriella Anderson (Mahopac, N.Y.) finished with seven stops on 13 Western New England attempts.
 
Sophomore Shelby Corsano (Bourne, Mass.) paced the visiting Pride with four points on two goals and two assists, while classmates Kristen Steidler (Somers, Conn.) and Ann Mahoney (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) also netted two goals each.
 
Kumnick opened the scoring for Western New England 3:26 into the contest on a feed from senior Ashley Brunner (Stratford, Conn.), and Scialdone doubled the Golden Bears' advantage less than two minutes later with the help of an assist from Winer.
 
Kumnick struck again 1:47 later, and goals by senior Tori Cirocco (Carmel, N.Y.) and Scialdone at the 17:08 and 14:37 marks, respectively, had the Golden Bears up 5-0.
 
Springfield mounted a late rally, however, closing the gap to 5-4 at the break with the help of two goals from Mahoney and one each from Steidler and Corsano. The Pride continued to roll in the second half, tying the score just over six minutes into the stanza on Steidler's second of the afternoon, before reeling off three more goals to open up an 8-5 lead.
 
Kumnick's third goal of the game with 11:38 on the clock brought the Golden Bears back to within two, but that would be as close as they got as Springfield held on for the 9-6 win.
 
Western New England (0-1) will be right back in action on Tuesday afternoon against Westfield State, while Springfield (2-0) is off until next Saturday, when the Pride host Plymouth State.