SPRINGFIELD, Mass.- Following their thrilling, overtime victory over Endicott on Wednesday, the Roger Williams Men's Lacrosse team could not find the same success against #7 regionally ranked Western New England University, getting doubled-up 20-10 at Golden Bear Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Hawks hung around for 40 minutes but were buried by a late WNE run in the loss.
 
With the defeat, RWU sees their three-game winning streak snapped and fall to 6-3 (1-3 CCC) on the season. Meanwhile, the Golden Bears improve to 7-1 (4-1 CCC) on the campaign.
 
Hawk Highlights
Matt Halpin (Hanover, Mass.): 2 goals, 2 assists, 2 ground balls
Peter Navarro (Londonderry, N.H.): 3 goals, 3 ground balls
Jared Grier (Quincy, Mass.): 2 goals
 
Ryan Bannon (Hopkinton, Mass.): 14 saves, 17 goals allowed, 2 ground balls, 55:23 minutes in goal
Duncan Gillis (Duxbury, Mass.): 1 saves, 3 goals allowed, 1 ground ball, 4:37 minutes in goal
 
For The Opponents
Noah Rust (Windham, N.H.): 5 goals, 1 assist, 2 ground balls
Nick Gamba (Oysterbay, N.Y): 4 goals, 3 assists
Mike Bannon (Edmond, Okla.): 2 goals, 3 assists, 2 ground balls
 
Sean McCusker (Northport, N.Y.): 8 saves, 10 goals allowed, 3 ground balls, 56:32 minutes in goal
Carter Randall (Sammamish, Wash.): 0 save, 0 goals allowed, 1 ground ball, 3:28 minutes in goal
 
 
How It Happened
The Golden Bears offense came out of the gates firing in this one as Nick Gamba (Oysterbay, N.Y) got things started scoring just 70 seconds into the game. After a Jared Newall (Stratford, Conn.) goal, Jared Grier (Quincy, Mass.) got the Hawks on the board to make the score 2-1. That did little to slow down Western New England however, as they scored four of the next five goals, including a pair from Noah Rust (Windham, N.H.) and after a Pat Barboza (Stamford, Conn.) score, Dylan Hanley (New Fairfield, Conn.) found the back of the net with two seconds remaining to make the score 7-3 after one quarter of play.
 
After the two squads split the four goals in the second frame, things got really interesting in the third as Peter Navarro (Londonderry, N.H.) and Matt Halpin (Hanover, Mass.) got back-to-back scores to cut the lead to 9-7 with just under eight minutes remaining in the stanza. All the hosts did from there was kick their offense into high gear, scoring eight of the next nine goals over the course of the remainder of the third and the first five and a half minutes of the fourth to put the Hawks away for good. Navarro and Grier each got goals to halt the run, but it was too little, too late as the Hawks fell, 20-10.
 
Roger Williams was without face-off specialist Connor Hillemeir (Farmington, Conn.) in this one, and he was missed as the Hawks were dominated in the faceoff circle winning just seven of the 32 chances.
 
Ryan Bannon (Hopkinton, Mass.) started in net for the Hawks and faced a whopping 31 shots over the first 55 minutes of play. He made 14 saves before Duncan Gillis (Duxbury, Mass.) came on in relief and allowed three goals on four shots. Bannon took the loss and fell to 6-3 in net.
 
Sean McCusker (Northport, N.Y.) made eight saves on the 18 shots he saw in the game in the crease for the Golden Bears and earned the victory to improve to 6-1 in net on the season.
 
What's Next
The Hawks look to get back on track against Wentworth on Wednesday. Start time was scheduled for 4:00 PM but is subject to change with the Roger Williams University Women's Lacrosse team now hosting a CCC Tournament contest at that time.