BEVERLY, Mass. – Endicott men's lacrosse dropped their first CCC game of the season in a tightly-contested 12-10 loss to No. 17 Western New England on Saturday afternoon at Hempstead Stadium. Tied 9-9 midway through the fourth quarter, the Golden Bears tallied the next three goals of the game including two by senior attacker Jon Bota (Mahopac, N.Y.) to secure the road win for Western New England.
Endicott (4-7, 3-1 CCC) got a six-goal effort from junior attacker and leading scorer Will Jennings (Danvers, Mass.) who reached the 50-goal plateau.
Western New England (8-3, 4-0 CCC) showcased a more balanced offensive attack with four different multi-goal scorers including three apiece for Bota, junior attacker Justin Bard (Westfield, Mass.), and junior attacker Keegan Dudeck (Longmeadow, Mass.). Freshman attacker Jared Ward (Littleton, Mass.) netted back-to-back goals as part of a third quarter performance that saw the Golden Bears shutout the Gulls 3-0 in the period.
In a back-and-forth first half that saw four ties and two lead changes, Endicott was able to break away from a 6-6 tie in the second quarter to own a 8-6 lead at the half. Freshman attacker Kenneth Speak (Melbourne, Australia) scored an unassisted goal at the 5:40 mark of the second quarter and Jennings buried a shot off a feed from senior midfielder Peter Field Jr. (Hampstead, N.H.) with just under two minutes remaining to give Endicott the halftime advantage.
Western New England regained momentum in the second half with a 3-0 third quarter thanks to goals by Dudeck, from Bard, and back-to-back tallies from Ward, first an unassisted goal at 6:34 and then a man-up conversion with 3:12 remaining off a pass from Bard, his third assist of the game.
Jennings from freshman attacker Matthew Faucher (Western Springs, Ill.), man up, knotted the score at 9-9 with 9:24 remaining in regulation. Western New England, however, executive a decisive three-goal run late in the fourth quarter with two goals by Bota and one by Dudeck to capture the win.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Endicott is now 8-10 all-time against Western New England. The Golden Bears broke a two-game losing skid to the Gulls with today's win.
- Endicott's last loss to a nationally-ranked Western New England team was in 2012, a 7-3 loss at home when the Golden Bears were ranked 18th in NCAA Division III.
- Jennings is the first Endicott men's lacrosse player since Harrison Cotter '15 to eclipse 50 goals in a season. Cotter did it in 2014. Before that, former USILA All-American Nick Cosco '09 scored 58 in 2008.
- Senior goalie Cameron Bell (Falmouth, Maine) made 10 saves in the loss. He remains one win shy of tying head coach Eric Hagarty '10 on the program's all-time wins list in the cage.
- Junior face-off specialist Tommy Hughes (Coram, N.Y.) won 13 and lost 12 match ups at the X against Golden Bears senior David Cedrone (Yantic, Conn.).
- Sophomore defenseman Michael Ryan (Falmouth, Maine) led the team with two caused turnovers.
- As a team, Endicott held a 33-28 ground ball advantage.
FOR THE FOES
- Senior attacker Taylor Dubose (Altamont, N.Y.) was one of three Golden Bears players to record three assists. Bard and Dudeck were the other two.
- Western New England 2-for-5 with the man-advantage. They scored man-up on a first quarter goal by Frank Medlicott (Stanwood, Wash.) and in the third by Ward.
- The Golden Bears outshot the Gulls 37-32.
- Golden Bears goalie sophomore Steven Kerr (Hopkinton, Mass.) made 14 saves in the win.
- Steven Patrie (Lewiston, Maine) and Cameron Purcell (Sacramento, Calif.) each had two caused turnovers.
WHAT'S NEXT
Endicott hits the road for a non-conference showdown with No. 3 Tufts on Tuesday, April 12 at 7:00 p.m. Western New England continues their conference schedule at home versus Nichols on Tuesday, April 12 at 7:00 p.m.