SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (May 4, 2016) - The No. 14 nationally ranked and top-seeded Western New England University men's lacrosse team secured its sixth consecutive trip to the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) championship game with a convincing 17-5 victory over fourth-seeded University of New England this afternoon in the semifinal round at Golden Bear Stadium.
 
Western New England (14-3, 8-0 CCC), which has now won ten consecutive games dating back to March 31, will host the winner of tonight's other semifinal matchup between Endicott and Roger Williams on Saturday afternoon with the CCC title on the line. The Nor'easters likely see their season come to a close at 11-8 (5-3 CCC).
 
Senior Jon Bota (Mahopac, N.Y.) and freshman Jared Ward (Littleton, Mass.) led the Western New England offense, tallying six points each with five goals and one assist. Junior Justin Bard (Westfield, Mass.) contributed five points (three goals, two assists) to go with four ground balls, while classmate Steven Patrie (Lewiston, Maine) led the defensive effort with a team-high three caused turnovers.
 
Western New England was able to dominate possession with the help of senior faceoff specialist David Cedrone's (Yantic, Conn.) 11-for-15 (73%) performance at the X, and Cedrone also chipped in with one goal and one assist.
 
Sophomore goalie Steven Kerr (Hopkinton, Mass.) made a game-high 13 saves in the cage, five of which came in the second quarter.
 
Freshman Alex Zadworny (Florence, Mass.) netted a pair of goals for the Nor'easters, while classmate Mitch Mullin (Cumberland, Maine) also posted a multi-point effort with one goal and one assist.
 
UNE junior goalie David Pearson (Scarborough, Maine) kept the game scoreless early with several big saves, but the Golden Bears broke through with 6:27 remaining in opening quarter on senior Stephen Gair's (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) eighth goal of the season. Bota and Bard added goals late in the period as Western New England led 3-0 after fifteen minutes of play.
 
Mullin got the visitors on the board at the 11:10 mark of the second quarter, but Bard answered for the Golden Bears 23 seconds later and Western New England closed the half on a 3-0 run, taking a 7-1 lead into the break.
 
The Golden Bears continued to pull away early in the third quarter, as senior Patrick Dillon (Baldwin, N.Y.) and Cedrone both found the back of the net over the opening two minutes, and Ward tacked on a pair of goals shortly after to extend Western New England's lead to 11 (12-1).
 
The Golden Bears outscored the Nor'easters 5-4 the rest of the way, cruising to a 12-goal triumph.
 
Western New England held the advantage in shots (48-36), shots on goal (27-19), ground balls (46-34) and faceoff wins (16-10).