WESTERN NEW ENGLAND HANDS NAZARETH FIRST LOSS, 9-4
Golden Flyers (4-1) visit Hamilton Saturday at 1 p.m.
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ROCHESTER, N.Y. (March 20, 2007) -- Junior Bryan Cofrin (Pinkerton Academy/Londonderry, NH) scored three goals and junior goalie Chris Body (Newtown HS/Newtown, CT) made 21 saves Tuesday as 16th-ranked Western New England upset sixth-ranked Nazareth in a non-conference men's lacrosse game, 9-4.

Western New England never trailed in the game and improved to 4-0 overall. Nazareth lost for the first time this season and is 4-1 overall. It was the first-ever meeting between the two teams in men's lacrosse.

A methodical first half resulted in just two goals in first 25 minutes -- Cofrin scored in the first quarter for the Golden Bears and Chad Amidon (pictured, Onondaga HS/Syracuse, NY) scored for Nazareth in the opening minute of the second quarter -- but Western New England scored three times in the last five minutes of the half to take a 4-1 advantage. Senior Adam Cherry (Westfield HS/Westfield, MA) scored twice and junior Tim Heffernan (Glastonbury HS/Glastonbury, CT) also scored for the Golden Bears.

After Western New England's Travis Brown (Montpelier HS/Montpelier, VT) was flagged for a three-minute, illegal stick penalty to open the third quarter, Nazareth's Steve Cutia (Cortland HS/Cortland, NY) scored a man-up goal in the opening minute, but the Golden Bears were successful in killing off the remainder of the penalty time.

Cofrin added his second and third goals of the game in the third quarter, with the last one coming off an assist from Scott Kukis (Winchedon HS/Sudbury, MA) with 48 seconds left to give the Golden Bears a 6-2 lead.

Nazareth's Kevin Kimball (St. Mark's HS/Framingham, MA) scored in the fourth quarter to bring the Golden Flyers within 6-3, but the Golden Bears answered just 18 seconds later as Brown scored after winning the ensuing faceoff. Jon Hayes (Waltham HS/Waltham, MA) and Ben Reardon (Longmeadow HS/Longmeadow, MA) each added unassisted goals in the fourth quarter for the Golden Bears, while Matt Aloi scored Nazareth's fourth goal.

Nazareth had a 43-36 edge in shots, but Western New England's steady defense made many of Body's 21 saves seem routine. Senior Pat Mullin (Irondequoit HS/Rochester, NY) made 14 saves for the Golden Flyers. Amidon had two assists in addition to his second-period goal.

Nazareth returns to action Saturday for a non-conference game at Hamilton at 1 p.m.