SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (May 4, 2026) – The Western New England men's lacrosse team captured its 15^th conference title in program history last Saturday afternoon after the second-seeded Golden Bears defeated top-seeded Endicott College on the road, 10-7, advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the 13^th time in program history. 

Following Sunday night's NCAA DIII Selection Show, the Golden Bears learned they will travel to SUNY Cortland to meet the Red Dragons at Grady Field on Wednesday, May 6, at 4:00 PM for the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of Wednesday's contest heads to Lewiston, Maine, where Bates College awaits in the second round of the tournament. 

2026 Golden Bears Season:
Western New England locked up its 15^th conference title in program history over the weekend, taking down the Gulls of Endicott College by a final score of 10-7. The 2026 season opened with three straight home games for the Golden Bears, two opponents who made or won their respective conference tournament championship games. 13^th-ranked St. Lawrence University, which is also in the NCAA Tournament following a Liberty League Championship, was first on the WNE schedule this season, with the Saints defeating WNE by a score of 17-9. The first win of the season came in the second overall game played for the Golden Bears, where WNE met Keene State College on home turf, and took down the Owls by a final score of 10-7, coming up with their eighth straight win over KSC all-time. WNE fell on home turf to the NEWMAC runners-up, MIT, 19-8, dropping to 1-2 on the season. No. 9 Babson College was next up for Western New England, which ended up champions of the NEWMAC, and got by the Golden Bears, 19-8, as WNE fell to 1-3 on the season. Western New England rebounded for a big win over Widener University during their annual spring break trip, coming away with a 20-9 victory. The non-conference slate wrapped up with a home loss to Nazareth University, 13-6, a road defeat to Springfield College, and a home victory over U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, which sparked the Golden Bears to begin a win streak. 

Following a 10-9 win over USMMA, Western New England ripped off nine wins in a row, eight of which came in Conference of New England play. CNE action opened on the road for WNE, coming away with an 11-4 win over Wentworth Institute of Technology, who advanced to the CNE Championship game a season ago. The first home conference game was played against the University of New England, as the Golden Bears squeaked out a 10-8 win. WNE then took down Gordon College 20-8, and Roger Williams University, 11-4, to move to 4-0 in conference play this season. A highly spirited game between WNE and the University of Hartford was next, where the Golden Bears came away with a 14-13 overtime victory over the Hawks, ripping off the final four goals of the game to produce a come-from-behind victory. Back-to-back 12-4 wins for Western New England over Nichols College and Johnson & Wales University kept the Blue and Gold perfect, improving to 7-0 in the conference, while downing Curry College, 13-7, to move to 8-0 in CNE play. A battle for the one-seed was on in the final regular season game of the year when the Golden Bears took on Endicott College at Golden Bear Stadium. WNE fell at home by a final score of 11-6, dropping their first CNE game of the year, and settled for the No. 2 seed in the CNE Tournament. 

With an automatic bid to the CNE Semifinals, second-seeded Western New England had a rematch with No. 3 University of Hartford, where the Golden Bears trailed at the half, but scored four straight goals to open the third quarter and never looked back, coming away with a 15-12 win to advance to the conference championship game. WNE matched up with the Gulls of Endicott in the title game, trading goal-for-goal with the Gulls until the third quarter, when six of seven tallies went Western New England's way, getting revenge on the regular season loss and coming away with a 10-7 victory over Endicott, advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the 13^th time in program history.

Western New England's Top Performers:
Offense, defense, and specialists have played key roles all season for the Golden Bears. The offense has been led by Jacob Roy, who has played in all 19 games for WNE this season, making 18 starts. Roy has scored 42 goals and picked up 35 assists, good for a team-high 77 points on the year. Roy has taken 162 shots, putting up 85 on goal, and has picked up 24 ground balls. Sophomore Logan Jenkins played in 16 games for the Golden Bears, coming away with 32 goals and 13 assists, totaling 45 points for the season. Jenkins is tied for the team lead with three game-winning goals this season, and has picked up 22 ground balls overall. The Conference of New England named Thomas Labbe the tournament's most outstanding player for his stretch of play. Labbe scored 25 goals and added 13 assists, coming up with 38 points for the season. Labbe has taken 88 shots, putting 46 shots on goal, and picked up 20 ground balls. 

The WNE defense sees David Noel lead the way, playing in 18 games this season, making 17 starts. Noel leads the Golden Bears with 47 caused turnovers and has picked up 73 ground balls for the Blue and Gold overall. Jack Gara caused 23 turnovers for Western New England during the 19 games and 19 starts on the year, and scooped up 43 ground balls overall. Both Chance Starett and Kai McDonald came away with double-digit caused turnovers for WNE this season, with Starrett causing 12, and McDonald 11. Between the pipes, WNE has leaned heavily on junior goalkeeper Jeffrey Wojtowicz, who played in 17 games, making 16 starts, accumulating a 12-4 record for WNE this season. Wojtowicz made 136 saves for Western New England on the year, supporting a .491 save percentage. 

The faceoff position has been vital to the success of Western New England this season, with CNE Specialist of the Year Chris Catuosco leading the way. Catuosco has won 209 faceoffs over 320 attempts this season, a win percentage of .653, which ranks in the top ten of single-season win percentage in WNE men's lacrosse history. Catuosco has picked up 146 ground balls on the season. Junior Levi Kelly-Smith has also been a big part of the faceoff success, going 71-for-108 this season, winning .653% of faceoffs. 

SUNY Cortland's 2026 Season:
The Red Dragons enter the NCAA Tournament on a high, having won their last 10 games overall, and took home the SUNYAC Championship this past Saturday afternoon with an 18-7 win over SUNY Oneonta. The Red Dragons had an impressive win to open the season, defeating No. 8 RPI on the road by a final score of 17-10. The Red Dragons couldn't fight past the Saints of St. Lawrence University, ranked No. 11 at the time of competition, falling 13-12, dropping to 1-1 on the season. A blowout victory over Brockport saw Cortland get back over .500 on the season, before Skidmore defeated the Red Dragons in their home opener, falling back down to .500 on the season, at 2-2. Cortland bounced back for back-to-back victories, one over Nazareth University and another over the University of Scranton as the Red Dragons found their stride. In a difficult stretch of games that saw Cortland drop three in a row, the Red Dragons fell to Muhlenberg University, 12-11, No. 12 St. John Fisher, 10-8, and No. 7 RIT, 15-9. The loss to RIT dropped Cortland below .500 for the season at 4-5. 

From there, SUNY Cortland opened SUNYAC play and raced right through every game, winning every game by double-digits. The Red Dragons opened conference action with a thunderous 34-2 win over SUNY Canton, followed by a 21-4 win over SUNY Potsdam, and a 23-6 win over SUNY Oswego. The Red Dragons continued their win streak by defeating SUNY Oneonta 20-7, dropping No. 18 Ithaca College 16-5 on the road, and beating SUNY New Paltz 24-6. The final regular season conference games of the season were back-to-back beatdowns, as Cortland took care of SUNY Morrisville 34-8, and SUNY Plattsburgh 26-3 to complete the perfect conference season. 

In the SUNYAC Tournament, top-seeded Cortland drew SUNY Plattsburgh again, dropping the Cardinals 36-3 for the most goals in a single game by Cortland in program history. The Red Dragons led 25-2 at halftime before adding 11 more goals in the second half to blow out Plattsburgh and head into the conference championship game. In the SUNYAC final, Cortland never trailed and took down SUNY Oneonta by a final score of 18-7 to win the conference crown and receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. 

SUNY Cortland's Top Performers:
Cortland has a dominant one-two punch on the offensive end, with Sean Kavanaugh leading the Red Dragons with 98 points, scoring 47 goals and picking up 51 assists. Kavanaugh has taken 137 shots this season, putting 93 on goal, and has picked up 23 ground balls. Nick Stoecker is second on the season with 58 goals and has picked up 31 assists overall, good for 89 points for Cortland. Stoecker has taken 145 shots, putting 94 on goal, has seven man-up goals, and has picked up 31 ground balls. Stefan Swedlund leads the Red Dragons with 60 goals this season and has 67 points overall. 

On defense, the Red Dragons bring a consistent attack, seeing six different student-athletes with double-digit caused turnovers. James Sullivan leads the charge with 22 caused turnovers, while picking up 40 ground balls. Dino Bowen is not far behind, coming away with 20 caused turnovers this season for Cortland. AJ Surian, Patrick O'Doherty, Tucker Macknik, and Jack Skarren all have double-digit caused turnovers for Cortland on the year. In goal, Charlie Falowski has made 166 saves over 19 games played, making 19 starts. Falowski has a 7.94 goals against average for the season and has a .568 save percentage. 

Nicky Mitenberger leads Cortland in the faceoff circle, winning 191 of 262 faceoffs this season, coming around with a .729 faceoff win percentage. The junior has picked up 93 ground balls on the year. Chad Bowen has 123 victories on 192 attempts for Cortland, winning at a .641 clip. Bowen has 36 ground balls overall. 

The Game:
WNE and SUNY Cortland will battle in the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Tournament in the first round on Wednesday, May 6, at 4:00 PM. This is the 13^th all-time meeting between the two teams and the fifth in the NCAA Tournament. Western New England is looking for their first-ever victory over Cortland all-time. To watch the game, click here. To follow the live stats, click here. To purchase tickets, click here. All tickets will be sold online, and there will be no in-person ticket purchases.