Golden Bears advance to face top-seeded Endicott in semifinals on Tuesday

MILTON, Mass. (April 27, 2019) – The fifth-seeded Western New England University women's lacrosse team used a strong all-around effort to earn a 25-12 victory over fourth-seeded Curry College in the quarterfinal round of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Katz Field.

With the win, Western New England (10-8) advances to the CCC Tournament semifinals to take on top-seeded Endicott College on Tuesday in Beverly, Mass. Curry's season comes to a close at 10-8.

Top Performers
Western New England's balanced offensive performance was led by senior Kristen Breen (Ellington, Conn.), who produced a game-high ten points with seven goals and three assists. Freshman Liz Mazza (East Longmeadow, Mass.) scored five goals, while sophomore Reilly Miller (Goshen, N.Y.) also turned in a five-point effort (four goals, one assist) and freshman Hannah Jarvis (Westfield, Mass.) finished with four goals.

Curry sophomore Katie Parker (Branford, Conn.) paced the Colonels with five goals, while junior Abby Dubel (Wolfeboro, N.H.) tallied four goals.

Game Review
Curry grabbed an early lead as freshman Andria Torres (Milford, Conn.) opened the scoring just under two minutes into the contest, but Western New England took control from there with a 5-0 run that began with a free position goal by Mazza at the 27:00 mark and culminated in Miller setting up Jarvis with 22:32 on the clock.

The two teams went back and forth for the next ten minutes, with Curry closing the gap to three (8-5) on Parker's second goal of the game with 11:37 left in the half.

Western New England utilized a 3-0 spurt with goals from Miller (10:14), Breen (9:36) and junior Kaitlyn Hutter (Stamford, Conn.) (8:09) to push the lead back to six (11-5), and the Golden Bears went on to hold a 13-8 advantage at the break.

The Golden Bears, who pulled away in the second half, set the tone early in the frame with a 3-0 run that included two goals from Miller.

Curry made one final push with a 3-0 run of its own to cut the deficit to five (16-11) with 18:09 to play, but Western New England dominated the rest of the way, outscoring the Colonels 9-1 over the final 16:32 to extend the final margin to 13.

Notes
• Western New England held advantages over Curry in shots (49-28), draw controls (21-17) and ground balls (21-19).
• Junior Madison Lemire (Ellington, Conn.), an All-CCC first team selection, led the Golden Bears with seven draw controls and four ground balls.