SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (April 15, 2025) – The Western New England women's lacrosse team bounced back from their weekend loss and churned out a 22-9 victory over the Colonels of Curry College on Tuesday evening from Golden Bear Stadium. Mia Celentano led the way for Western New England with eight overall points, including the 200^th of her career in the win. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Western New England: 5-9, 4-3 CNE
• Curry College: 4-11, 1-6 CNE

How it Happened:

A scoring flurry would open the first half with the two teams combining to score 21 goals overall in the opening half. Western New England controlled the opening draw and would score the first goal of the game when Ella Henry picked up her 13^th goal of the season on an assist from Mia Celentano, giving WNE a 1-0 lead. Curry would have the next two goals overall, as the game would be an important one for the fight for the playoffs in the Conference of New England. Grayson Goolgasian and Nicole Michael would pick up goals for Curry that gave the visiting team a 2-1 lead. The Golden Bears would respond with a Celentano goal on an assist from Samantha Montecalvo to tie the game at two. Curry would stay close with the Golden Bears after WNE put up back-to-back goals from Lina Eves and Sydney Miles. Michael tied the game at four for Curry before Ella Nish would record the final two goals of the quarter for Western New England, her fifth and sixth of the season, giving Western New England a 6-4 lead at the end of the first. Western New England took 11 shots to Curry's six in the first quarter, Neither team converted a clear in the opening quarter, Curry going 0/5 and WNE 0/2. 

Lyndsey Bunnell began the second quarter with a goal for the Golden Bears, her 13^th of the season overall, opening up a 7-4 WNE lead. Curry would also score an early goal as Michael would have her hat trick early in the frame that brought the lead for WNE down to just two. The Golden Bears would come up with four straight goals from there, with Lina Eves, Mia Celentano, and Sydney Miles all scoring that gave the blue and gold an 11-5 lead with 6:23 to play in the quarter. WNE would then close the quarter with three of the final four goals overall, giving themselves a seven-goal lead at the break. Mia Celentano continued to score for WNE while Ella Henry had her second goal of the game. WNE took a 14-7 lead to the break. The Golden Bears had 14 shots in the second quarter, eight of which found the back of the net. Emily Picolla made three saves for Western New England in the second. 

The blue and gold would take full control of the game in the third quarter, scoring five of the six goals overall to take a commanding, double-digit lead. Allison Cyr began the scoring with her third goal of the season at the 11:05 mark of the third quarter. Western New England would keep the goals coming when Ella Nish and Celentano celebrated for the blue and gold. The Golden Bears picked up a double-digit lead for the first tie in the game when Gabby Sliwka came up with her second of the season following a green card to Curry, putting WNE ahead 18-8. Samantha Montecalvo ended the third quarter with her first goal fo the game, giving the Golden Bears an 11-goal lead after three quarters, leading 19-8. 

Two quick goals to begin the fourth quarter from Nish and Cyr would put the game away for Western New England, who put together a total team effort to come up with an important CNE victory. Cyr would have two goals in the quarter overall, two of the three for Western New England, who went on to defeat the Colonels by a final score of 22-9. WNE's Brooke Darling made three saves in the final 18 minutes of the game to shut the door on the Colonels.  WNE picked up their eighth straight win all-time over Curry. 

Inside The Lines:

• With her six goals and two assists on the evening, Mia Celentano led the offense while scoring her 200^thcareer point in the game. Celentano also had nine shots, seven on goal, coming away with one ground ball. 
• Allison Cyr had a career game, scoring three goals and adding two assists, good for five total points in the game. 
• Lyndsey Bunnell, Ella Nish, Ella Henry, Lina Eves, Sidney Miles, and Samantha Motecalvo all had multi-point efforts in the win. 
• Melissa Shanteler picked up three caused turnovers and three ground balls to lead Western New England. 
• Emily Picolla earned the win for the Golden Bears, making three saves. Brooke Darling also made three saves in the final 18:57 of the game. 

Hear From The Athletes:

• Mia Celentano commented on her 200^th career point in this evening's game. "It is amazing, I have had four really great years here. I love the team and it is a complete team effort when anybody gets a milestone such as this. It is an honor but a total team effort. 
• Celentano also commented on the team's effort in a bounce-back victory. "It was a team effort. Everyone had touches on the ball. We played well on both sides, offensively and defensively, and we were able to run through everything and everybody played part in the win."

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Western New England travels to the University of Hartford on Friday, April 18 at 5:00 PM.