Two and a half months ago, Springfield College men’s lacrosse walked off the field in Rochester, NY covered in snow and defeat, after losing to its rival Nazareth by one goal. A team that felt it was bound for improvement was feeling flashbacks to 2024. Battling through a tough non-conference schedule is something that the Pride is no stranger to, and with the lesson of hard losses, Springfield has finished undefeated in the NEWMAC regular season for the first time since 2016.
Over the course of the season, Springfield has seen its ups and downs, but has ended the regular season particularly strong, winning six of its last seven games, with the only loss coming to No. 7 Wesleyan at the time. The Pride are not just undefeated in the NEWMAC, but they’ve shown it in the stat sheet too.
Springfield in seven conference games had the best scoring margin (6.1), goals against per game (7.9), and shot percentage (.345), with a five percent disparity from MIT in second. Head coach Keith Bugbee is excited about his team’s success so far.
“It’s never easy to go undefeated in your league,” Bugbee said. “It’s just so easy to trip up. They had three things that were their main objective in the season of the three goals the team had and one was going undefeated, and another was playing the semifinal game at home. It’s good to check boxes now.”
Throughout the 2025 season, Springfield has found ways to win games in different fashions. The Pride defeated Union for their first win of the season 11-10, and the first win against the Garnet Chargers since 2018. Kevin Tierney notched six goals in what seemed like a shootout, even though the scoreboard wouldn’t agree.
Games were won by stout defense in the second half against Babson and Western New England. The Pride only scored one goal each in the second halves of those games, but the team’s defense held it down, having a zero goal quarter in each respective game. Springfield won with revenge against Emerson convincingly, but the game it looks back on is Salve: Springfield’s NEWMAC tournament semifinal opponent.
The Pride were up 5-0 in the game, and all signs were pointing to another blowout — but the Seahawks rallied back and scorched seven unanswered goals. Down 7-5 in the third quarter, Springfield figured out Salve’s defense and went on a 5-1 run of its own to win 10-8.
Jake Degnan has been a key contributor in the Pride’s offense, as the Sophomore reached 100 career points this past weekend. Although Degnan leads the team in goals, he already has two more assists than his first year in two less games so far. Bugbee has seen the sniper’s growth in the game, and Degnan agrees.
“Once you have experience under your belt, everything starts to come easier to you,” Degnan said. “I guess the game slows down a little bit. Not everything is so hectic. You anticipate what’s gonna be happening more, rather than just getting thrown into the fire in my first year. This year, I was able to sit back and I expected what was coming.”
Because Springfield has gotten off to strong scoring starts in games, teams have been starting to play zone defense. It has left the Pride with personnel changes at times, and sophomore attacker Bryan Stensrud stepped up.
In the regular season finale against Wheaton, Stensrud, who hadn’t played more than 15 minutes all season, had three goals and two assists to give the Pride a 15-12 victory.
“Bryan has great hands and he’s sneaky from behind the goal,” Bugbee said. I called him out as well as a bunch of other guys after we got back to the locker room this weekend, and gave guys credit for keeping their nose through the grind. A lot of these guys worked their way up for playing time. Bryan’s been working hard every day.”
Notably, the Pride also got Mason Nocito back last week, as he was recovering from a leg injury and had been out for over six weeks. The sixth-year midfielder led the team in points a year ago, and is poised to provide a spark for Springfield as it makes a push to be crowned NEWMAC champions.
Bugbee feels that his offense can reach another level in the final stretch.
“I think our defense has been rock solid,” Bugbee said. “Everyone can get one percent better, but our offense can work even harder. [Nocito] coming back is huge for us, because he draws a pole. I’m glad the team got him back, but I’m even more happy for him. To stay tough like he has and get back to full strength is the best case scenario.”
Springfield looks to move on to the NEWMAC championship as they face Salve Regina in the semis Thursday night on Stagg Field.
Photo By Springfield College Athletics