May 3, 2008
BEVERLY, Mass. - Trailing by one with 5:26 remaining in regulation, Western New England College scored the game's final three goals to knock-off four-time defending TCCC Champion Endicott College, 12-10, on Saturday afternoon in Beverly, Massachusetts. The loss marks the Gulls' first setback to a conference opponent since the 2003 season.
The Golden Bears stepped off the bus and were quick to jump out to an early lead, netting the day's first three goals in a 3:27 span to quiet the Endicott hopeful. Jon Hayes (Waltham, Mass.) got the game going with a shot that glanced off Eric Hagarty's (Sudbury, Mass.) shoulder and crossed the line for the 1-0 lead. Scott Kukis (Sudbury, Mass.) then found the back of the net on a bounce shot from 18-yards out, doubling the visitor's advantage. Brody Savoie (Wilbraham, Mass.) made it a three goal game as he swept from his left-to-right at the back X, wrapping a shot around past Hagarty's left leg to ignite the WNEC sideline.
TCCC Coach of the year Sean Quirk quickly signaled for a timeout in an attempt to settle his squad. With the early jitters out of its system, Endicott responded with back-to-back goals from Eddie O'Reilly (Beverly, Mass.) and John Curtis (Chelmsford, Mass.) to begin the ascent out of the early hole. O'Reilly dodged from up top, shaking his defender off to find a hole on the near post to make it 3-1. Curtis threaded the needle 5-hole on Chris Body (Newtown, Conn.) with a well-placed bounce shot to bring the Gulls within in striking distance.
The Gulls and Golden Bears exchanged second quarter goals, with WNEC's coming off the stick of Hayes on a nice feed from behind by Mike Kelly (Cheshire, Conn.). Endicott struck with 4:34 left in the opening half as Brandon Dube (Danvers, Mass.) found top-shelf from 15 yards out off a pass from Dan Cain (Billerica, Mass.) to send the Blue and Green into the intermission trailing, 4-3.
Dube evened the game at 4-all as he scooped-up a loose ball in front of the visitor's cage, burying a crank shot from in tight to tie the score for the first time. David Scarfo (Billerica, Mass.) gave Endicott its first lead of the day just eight seconds later as John Ortolani (Billerica, Mass.) cleanly won the ensuing face-off and found Scarfo all alone for a fast-break goal.
Jon Hayes and Brody Savoie started the see-saw exchange as the pair combined for consecutive tallies 4:07 apart to put the Golden Bears back in front, 6-5. Dan Cain fired back for Endicott as he scored to the right of the cage on a goal-line-extended shot to tie the game. Bryan Cofrin (Londonderry, N.H.) and Jon Hayes made it 8-6 in favor of WNEC has they each buried assisted tallies. Eddie O'Reilly sent the Gulls into the fourth trailing by just one as he ripped a man-up goal past Body with 29 seconds remaining in the third.
Brandon Dube got his hands free at the back X to find a streaking Dan Cain just 2:26 into the final frame to tie the score at 8-all. Moment's later, Brody Savoie was the beneficiary of a slick feed by Joe O'Keefe (Branford, Conn.) as the freshman found the junior attackman on the Endicott goal-mouth, threading a pass through the Gulls' defense for the easy lay-up goal.
In what appeared to be a swing of momentum for the Gulls, freshman Andrew Pochebit (Portland, Maine) came flying in from the wing to scoop-up the resulting face-off. Pochebit, yielding his long-pole, unleashed his only shot of the season, leveraging a seed past Body to even the game at 9-9. With the stands shaking, Chris Gugino (West Hartford, Conn.) gave Endicott its first lead in over 20 minutes as he surprised the WNEC netminder with an overhand shot from an odd angle, putting the hosts up 10-9.
A timeout by Western New England proved to be wisely used, as the Golden Bears not only fought off a man-down situation immediately following the Gugino goal, but they were also able to tie the game on an unassisted Mike Kelly goal at 3:40. Travis Brown (Chapel Hill, N.C.) then got a jump on the face-off, scooping up the ball and feeding Kelly just seven seconds later for a fast-break tally and an, 11-10, WNEC lead.
Brody Savoie put the Gulls away for good exactly one minute later as he buried his fourth of the day on a bounce shot on the right side, catapulting Western New England to the NCAA Div. III Tournament and ending Endicott's TCCC title reign.
Savoie and Jon Hayes both paced the WNEC offense as the pair each scored four goals for the Golden Bears. Mike Kelly had two goals and two assists while Scott Kukis had one and one. Chris Body made nine saves in the visitor's cage, while defenseman Jared Pabis (Wilbraham, Mass.) had seven groundballs and four takeaways in the win.
Endicott was led by three, two goals scorers. Eddie O'Reilly, Brandon Dube and Dan Cain each found the back of the net twice on Saturday, while Brad Lipkvich (Madison, Conn.) dished out two assists for the Blue and Green. Sophomore goaltender Eric Hagarty made 11 saves for the hosts, while senior John Ortolani went 16-of-25 from the face-off X.
With the win, Western New England (13-4) captures The Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship and assures itself of the Automatic Qualifier to the NCAA Div. III Men's Lacrosse Tournament. Endicott (16-3) still has a legitimate chance of obtaining an At Large bid into next week's NCAA Opening Round. Tournament pairings will be announced on Sunday evening.
