SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (March 26, 2025) – The Western New England men's lacrosse team used a massive first half of offense, scoring 15 total goals, to come away with a big 19-7 victory over the Fighting Scots of Gordon College, winning their Conference of New England opener on Wednesday night from Golden Bear Stadium. 

Records:

• Western New England: 4-5, 1-0 CNE
• Gordon College: 1-4, 0-1 CNE

How It Happened:

The Golden Bears and Fighting Scots exchanged turnovers on their first possessions of the game but Western New England would scoop up a ground ball following Gordon's turnover, get a good clear attempt, and fire home their first goal of the game as Griffin LaRochelle gave the Golden Bears a 1-0 lead. Gordon would win the first two faceoffs of the game overall, the second of the game directly leading to a goal. Aidan Walsh would pick up the win in the circle while William McCormick would scoop the ground ball, rushed towards the goal, and fired home the game-tying goal, evening the score at one. Rocco DeSimone won Western New England's first faceoff of the game following, which resulted in another lead for the Golden Bears as Max Rudgers was on the scoreboard to give Western New England a 2-1 lead. Josh Gagnon would quickly extend that lead to 3-1 with an unassisted tally, forcing a timeout from Gordon. Gordon would do a good job keeping Western New England from expanding their lead while the Fighting Scots came back with a goal from Caden Ellis with 6:10 to play in the first quarter. WNE hung on to their one-goal lead. Gordon would nearly tie the game at three, but Jackson Wright's shot would be saved by Jonathon Salsbury. Salsbury would get the ground ball while WNE would complete the clear and would score on the ensuing possession as James Wrynn picked up the goal on an assist from Logan Jenkins, giving the Golden Bears a 4-2 lead. Wrynn's goal would spark a sequence of five straight goals for the Golden Bears to end the first quarter. Thomas Labbe picked up WNE's fifth goal, Jacob Roy had the sixth, Griffin LaRochelle the seventh on an assist from Logan Jenkins, and Jenkins himself had an unassisted goal to cap off the quarter for the Golden Bears, who took an 8-2 lead after the first 15 minutes of play. WNE out shot Gordon 17-7 in the opening quarter, taking 13 shots on goal to Gordon's seven. WNE turned the ball over just three times overall and went a perfect 6/6 in clear attempts. 

The second quarter would be all Western New England, who fired home seven more goals in the frame, while the Fighting Scots would come up empty. Thomas Labbe had his second of the game to open the quarter, coming up with a goal while a player up, giving WNE a 9-2 lead. Jacob Roy would quickly score again for the Golden Bears to get double digits on the scoreboard in favor of the home team, leading 10-2. Jack Gara would help the Golden Bears keep the Fighting Scots from scoring in the second, coming up with a caused turnover while Jonathon Salsbury picked up another saved at the 8:23 mark. Roy would start the scoring parade again for Western New England, who took an 11-2 lead with 7:10 to play. Four goals in under two minutes for Western New England would put the game nearly out of reach in the second quarter. Jack Houlden, Max Rudgers, James Wrynn, and Brock Busa would all score for the Golden Bears, who took a 15-2 lead at the half. Gordon had just two shots in the second quarter, while Western New England had seven goals to take the commanding lead. 

Western New England would have two quick goals to open the third quarter as Dylan Nardone picked up a tally on an assist from Kevin Morina while Christopher Crozier would pick up his first career goal with 11:32 to play, giving the Golden Bears a 17-2 lead. Gordon would end their scoreless streak following as Ryan Arthur picked up his first of the game and Gordon's third overall of the game with 10:32 to play. Arthur had back-to-back goals for the Fighting Scots, giving some life to the visitors. Nardone would score again on another assist from Morina for the Golden Bears which brought WNE's lead back to 14 goals, leading 18-4. The Fighting Scots added one more goal before the quarter would end, but would still trail big, seeing WNE take an 18-5 lead. Western New England picked up 11 shots in the frame, firing ten on goal. Gordon's Colin Liscomb made seven saves on Western New England in the third quarter. 

With the game well in favor of the Golden Bears, Western New England would ice the game with one final goal in the fourth quarter, coming from Bryce Busa, who made the game 19-5 in favor of the Golden Bears. Western New England would hold Gordon to just two goals in the final 15 minutes of play, taking a 19-7 victory over the Fighting Scots. Gordon had the better of the play in the fourth quarter, taking seven shots, and putting up five on goal. Jeffrey Wojtowicz made three saves in goal for Western New England overall. 

Inside the Lines:

• Logan Jenkins led the offense for the Golden Bears, scoring a goal and adding four assists overall, good for five points. Jenkins took five shots putting two on goal and picked up one ground ball. 
• Thomas Labbe, Dylan Nardone, and Jacob Roy all came away with three points for the Golden Bears in the win. 
• Four more Golden Bears, Max Rudgers, James Wyrnn, Kevin Morina, and Griffin LaRochelle, had two points each. 
• Defensively, the Golden Bears caused six turnovers, led by Marcus Ciarcia, who had two. 
• In the faceoff circle, Rocco DeSimone led the Golden Bears, winning 12 of 15 faceoffs. Brock Busa picked up five wins on six attempts. Levi Kelly-Smith was 4/9 in the circle for the Golden Bears. 
• In between the pipes, Jonathon Salsbury made two saves and allowed two goals. Jeffrey Wojtowicz made three saves for the Golden Bears in the third quarter. Braden Civiello saw action in the fourth quarter. 
• The Golden Bears out shot Gordon 49-21 overall in the game, 35-12 on goal. WNE scooped 31 ground balls and went 17/18 in clear attempts. 
• WNE remains undefeated against Gordon, improving to 19-0 all-time. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Western New England will travel to the University of New England on Friday, March 28 at 4:00 PM for a conference contest. The game has been moved due to impending weather in Maine on Saturday.