DANBURY, Conn. - Senior goalie Brendan Grove (Cheshire, Conn.) made 15 saves and was named Most Outstanding Player after leading the Western Connecticut State University men's lacrosse team to a thrilling 14-9 victory over University of Massachusetts Boston at the Westside Athletic Complex.

WestConn, winners of the LEC regular season as well, captured the first post-season tournament crown since 2008 and earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III national tournament, which begins next weekend.

The NCAA Selection Show will be shown at www.ncaa.com on Sunday evening at 9 pm.

The Wolves raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first 17:29.  During that stretch sophomore Julian Duque (Mastic, N.Y.) scored two of his game-high five markers.

WestConn held five-goal advantages on two other occasions.  Stephen Cicchetti (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) gave the hosts an 8-3 lead following an assist from Benjamin Hawthorne (Manorville, N.Y.) with 2:57 left before intermission.

The Wolves' lead would grow to 9-4 before the Beacons  rattled off three straight goals. 

Charlie Chapman (Sandwich, Mass.) capped off the run with the final of his three goals on Saturday to cut the Beacons deficit to two goals, 9-7 with 5:57 left in the third stanza. 

That would be the closest UMass Boston, which came into today's game as the two-time defending champions, would get the rest of the way.  It matched that differential on Connor Smith's (Oakland, Me.) to make the score 10-8 in favor of WestConn.

The squad of 54 closed out the contest by scoring four of the game's final five goals.

Highlighting the Wolves' offensive attack was freshman Tristan McMahon (Farmingville, N.Y.) and Cicchetti.  Each posted a hat-trick for the victors.  McMahon finished with a game-high six points after dishing out three assists.

Jacob Banks (Westminster, Mass.) and Smith each found the back of the net twice for the Beacons, which end their season at 12-7.

UMB senior goalie Trevor Koppy (Attleboro, Mass.) joined Grove with a stellar performance in net.  He made 14 saves and withstood 47 shots from the hosts.