Box Score
SPRINGFIELD, Mass.—Western New England survived an early scare from a short-handed Gordon squad and pulled away in the second half for a 18-7 win on Wednesday evening at Golden Bear Stadium. With the win, Western New England finishes the regular season with a 5-1 home record as part of an 8-7 overall mark and 7-1 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference men's lacrosse standings; the Fighting Scots check in at 8-8 on the season and 4-4 in the league, which qualifies them for the postseason.
 
Gordon was led by Roger Evans who had two goals and an assist, followed by Jake Martin and Ryan Utz with two goals apiece. Sam Spellman and Matt Dantona contributed two assists each.
 
The Fighting Scots jumped out to leads of 2-0 and 3-1 5 minutes after the opening face-off. Martin started it with his 48th goal, unassisted, at the 12:34 mark and then Utz notched his 36th just 19 seconds later. After Knapton put WNE on the scoreboard at 11:13, Jordan Heckelmann restored Gordon's two-goal lead 62 seconds later.
 
Craig tallied back-to-back goals on assists from Knapton to knot the score at 3-all before Evans responded with consecutive goals of his own 29 seconds apart by the 3:10 mark of the first quarter to give Gordon its third two-goal lead of the night.
 
That would be the last time the visitors would lead because then the Golden Bears' offense and defense took over.
 
Following a Gordon turnover, WNE pushed the ball up the field with time running out as Knapton found the back of the net with 6 seconds left in the opening stanza. That started a 14-goal scoring run as the Golden Bears turned a 5-3 deficit into a commanding 17-5 cushion entering the fourth. Senior defender Trevor Scott had a highlight goal as he notched his first of the season, starting transition after picking up a ground ball at midfield and racing down field where he bounced a shot just under the crossbar.
 
The Golden Bears' defense held the Fighting Scots scoreless for almost 35 minutes during their scoring spurt. Scott finished with four ground balls and two caused turnovers, while freshmen Steven Patrie and Joe Barcia had three and two caused turnovers, respectively.
 
Peter Kovacevic led all student-athletes with 14 ground balls for Gordon, which was outshot 48 to 26.
 
The goal of the night came with 3:50 remaining off the cross of freshman Frank Medlicott who dodged a defender and then flipped a shot over his shoulder with his back to the cage and found the back of the net.
 
Endicott College has earned the top seed for the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men's lacrosse championship, which begins with quarterfinal round games on Saturday, April 26.

The Gulls (13-3 overall) claimed the top seed in the conference tournament after posting a perfect 8-0 record in CCC play.  Top-seeded Endicott and second-seeded Western New England University (8-7 overall, 7-1 CCC) will receive byes in the tournament's quarterfinal round.

Two quarterfinal matches will be played on Saturday, April 26.  Third-seeded Roger Williams University (12-4, 6-2) will host sixth-seeded Gordon College (8-8, 4-4) at 3:30 p.m. in Bristol, R.I. as part of a men's/women's doubleheader, while fourth-seeded Salve Regina University (12-4, 4-4) will host fifth-seeded Wentworth Institute of Technology (7-8, 4-4) at 1:00 p.m. in Newport, R.I.

Winners of the two quarterfinal matches will advance to the semifinal round on Wednesday, April 30.  Top-seeded Endicott will host the winner of the Wentworth vs. Salve Regina quarterfinal in Beverly, Mass. at a time to be determined (either 4:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m.), while second-seeded Western New England will host the winner of the Roger Williams vs. Gordon quarterfinal in Springfield, Mass. at 7:00 p.m.  Both semifinal matches will be part of a men's/women's doubleheader.
CCC tiebreaking procedures were used to determine the fourth, fifth and sixth seeds in the tournament, as Salve Regina, Wentworth and Gordon all posted identical 4-4 conference records.  In the first step, head-to-head play among the three tied teams was compared. All three teams posted 1-1 records.

In the second step, records against other CCC teams were examined starting at the top of the standings and working down.  All three tied teams posted identical records against the other six CCC teams.

While the third step, common non-conference opponents, yielded no opponents common to all three, the fourth step, records against teams with a winning percentage of .500 or greater, resulted in Salve Regina claiming the fourth seed by virtue of a 4-4 record (.500), compared to Gordon (2-5, .286) and Wentworth (3-8, .273).

Wentworth and Gordon was subsequently treated as a new tie and returned to the top of the tiebreaking procedure.  The Leopards claimed the fifth seed by virtue of a 15-12 win over the Fighting Scots on April 12.
Tournament action culminates with the CCC championship game on Saturday, May 3 at 1:00 p.m. The CCC tournament champion will earn an automatic berth in the upcoming 2014 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship.

The complete tournament schedule appears below.  All times are tentative and subject to change.
Click HERE for the Interactive Tournament Bracket.
Click HERE for the Printable Tournament Bracket.
Release courtesy of WNE and CCC Sports Info