Posted: May 07, 2011
Springfield, Mass. – Down 12-10 with less than three minutes to go, the Endicott men’s lacrosse conducted a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Western New England to win the 2011 TCCC Championship with a 13-12 overtime victory.
Senior midfielder Kyle Jordan (Falmouth, Maine) and sophomore attacker Brian Estes (Derry, N.H.) both scored unassisted goals at the end of the fourth quarter to force an overtime period with the Golden Bears. Jordan scored his third goal of the game 2:56 into the extra period, ending the game and giving the Gulls back-to-back TCCC titles and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Endicott stormed out to a 4-1 lead by the end of the first quarter to control the early momentum of the game. Senior captain Chris Gugino (West Hartford, Conn.) netted the game’s first goal just 15 seconds into the opening period to put the Gulls up 1-0. Western New England’s Patrick White (Milton, Mass.) even the score at 1-1 with an assist to Mike Santare (South Salem, N.Y.). The Blue and Green, however, saw Chris Cotter (Lordship, Conn.), Jordan, and Connor Prescott (Norwalk, Conn.) score the next three goals to put Endicott up 4-1 after the first 15 minutes.
Gulls senior Jack Curtis (Chelsmford, Mass.) netted the first goal of the second quarter, pushing Endicott’s lead up to 5-1 but the Golden Bears responded with a 5-1 run to even the game at seven goals apiece. Santare, Andrew Mariani (East Brunswick, N.J.) and Colin Houlihan (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) all scored unassisted goals before Corrigan Harreys (Essex, Conn.) netted back-to-back tallies with assists to J. Michael Nardella (Beverly, Mass.).
Endicott’s Cotter scored the only goal for the Gulls during the WNE run. The two teams went into halftime with the score tied 7-7.
In the third quarter, Curtis found the back twice to put the Blue and Green up 9-7. Western New England did not let the Gulls lead last as Santare and Billy Kelsey (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) scored two straight goals to even the score again.
After Gugino scored his second goal of the game to put the Gulls up 10-9, the Golden Bears took a commanding 12-10 lead with three straight tallies. Harreys scored twice while Santare netted his third of the game.
Jordan brought the Gulls to within one at 12-11 with 2:16 remaining in the game, then Estes beat the goalie on a man-up opportunity to score the equalizer with 1:21 to go.
In overtime, Endicott goalie Mike Klein (Darien, Conn.) made two crucial saves, allowing the Endicott offense and Kyle Jordan to score the game-winning goal. Klein finished with 10 saves in the game and improved to 13-3 on the season.
Western New England’s goalie, Brewster Knowlton (Somers, Conn.) also made 10 saves in the game, but took the overtime loss.
Junior short-stick specialist Sam Ozycz (Cheshire, Conn.) converted 16-of-29 faceoff opportunities and tied teammate Robert Crossett (Katonah, N.Y.) with a game-high eight groundballs.
The Gulls will now wait to find out who their opportunity will be for the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
