Springfield, Mass. – February 26, 2026 – A goal by Jake Degnan (Mahopac, N.Y) late in the fourth quarter proved to be the game winner as the Springfield College men's lacrosse team defeated Union College (NY), 9-8, on Thursday afternoon on Stagg Field.

Springfield improved to 1-1, while Union dropped to 0-3. Springfield College head coach Sean Quirk picked up his first win on Alden Street and 244th of his collegiate coaching career.

Degnan, Bryan Stensrud (LaGrangeville, N.Y.) and Brady Soldo (Shrewsbury, Mass.) all recorded two goals apiece, while Chuck Weitzel (Newton, Mass.), Dominic Savastano (South Salem, N.Y.) and Charlie Vath (Southington, Conn.) all notched solo goals for the Pride. Emmett Lyne tallied a hat trick to lead Union today. Anders Norman (Truckee, Calif.) led the Pride with five ground balls, while Zachary Rabin (Bay Shore, N.Y.) notched a pair of caused turnovers.

In net, Ian Cote (Lake Stevens, Wash.) recorded a career-high 20 saves for the Pride as his record pushed to 1-1 on the season.

As a team, Union held a 37-34 edge in shots and a 34-26 differential in ground balls. Springfield went 24-for-29 on clearing attempts and scored once on the man-advantage, while Luke Tranter won 15-of-21 faceoffs at the dot.

Union scored the first two goals of the game before Soldo notched a strike on the man-advantage off a feed from Patrick McGowan (Haverhill, Mass.) midway through the opening quarter. The two teams traded goals to end the first as Mekhi Taylor scored for Union and Stensrud scored for Springfield.

The Garnet Chargers led 4-2 early in the second, but back-to-back goals from Soldo and Stensrud evened the game at four. Lyne then finished a pass from Mike Wall to give the visitors a 5-4 edge at halftime.

The two teams traded goals until there was 9:24 left in regulation when Walker Popko gave Union an 8-7 edge. Weitzel then caused a turnover, scooped up the ball and charged down the field scoring the equalizer in transition. Just two minutes later, Springfield caused another turnover and transitioned down the field. Ryan Berkel (Sudbury, Mass.) found Degnan who scored the game winner for the Pride.

Union was held without a shot over the final three minutes of the game and attempted to call a timeout without having one ultimately giving possession back to Springfield and ending the game with Springfield taking it by a 9-8 final.

Springfield will travel to Keene State for a non-conference tilt on Tuesday at 5:00 pm.

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