SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (April 26, 2016) - Led by five second half goals from senior Brooke Kumnick (Granby, Conn.), the Western New England University women's lacrosse team rallied past Gordon College, 13-8, in its regular season finale this afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at Golden Bear Stadium.
 
With the win, Western New England (11-6, 5-3 CCC) clinches the fourth seed and home field advantage for the first round of the upcoming CCC Tournament, which gets underway on Saturday. The Golden Bears will host Gordon (6-9, 5-3 CCC), which finishes as the CCC's fifth seed.

Kumnick fueled Western New England's comeback with a career-high seven goals, and also matched her career-high with eight points. The senior scored on both of her free position attempts and led the Golden Bears with four draw controls.
 
Sophomore Julia Winer (Longmeadow, Mass.) also established a career-high, dishing out seven assists, while senior Ashley Brunner (Stratford, Conn.) finished with four points on three goals and one assist.
 
Sophomore goalie Shannon McFadden (West Islip, N.Y.) turned back 12 shots in the cage, marking her fourth consecutive 10 save effort and 11^th this season.
 
Gordon was led by senior Jessica Castelline (Concord, Mass.) and freshman Olivia McCarrick (Glen Burnie, Md.), who finished with six points each. Senior Bailey Grinnell (South Hamilton, N.Y.) led all players with four ground balls.
 
Leading 6-4 at the break, the Fighting Scots extended their advantage to three early in the second half on Grinnell's unassisted tally.
 
Western New England took control from there, however, posting a 9-0 run to open up a 13-7 lead with 5:41 remaining in the contest. Sophomore Lauren Hurley (Saint James, N.Y.) scored on a feed from Kumnick at the 26:25 mark to start the run, and Kumnick netted her 60^th goal of the season less than two minutes later to bring the Golden Bears back to within one (7-6).
 
Freshman Kristen Breen (Ellington, Conn.) scored the equalizer with 21:55 on the clock, and Kumnick followed with three straight goals to put Western New England ahead 10-7 midway through the half. Brunner, Kumnick and senior Bethany Peters (Baiting Hollow, N.Y.) added late goals to put the game out of reach, before McCarrick ended Gordon's scoring drought with 2:10 remaining.  
 
Western New England held the edge in shots (12-11), ground balls (9-8) and draw controls (9-3) during its dominant second half performance.