Box Score Scoring Summary

Chris Anderson

Jason Pizzoferrato

Sean Lopata

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Western New England men's lacrosse squad completed a perfect season in The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) with a thrilling 10-9 victory over No. 16 Endicott Saturday afternoon (Apr. 23) in a battle of previously unbeaten conference teams.

This also was the final game of the regular season for both Western New England and Endicott.

The Golden Bears (12-4) finished conference play with a perfect 10-0 record and clinched the top seed in the conference tournament that begins next Saturday (Apr. 30) at campus sites. The Gulls are now 12-4 with a 9-1 TCCC mark.

Junior midfielder Patrick White (Milton, MA) scored three goals with an assist while freshman midfielder Sean Lawton (Abington, MA) also scored three times, including the all-important go-ahead goal with 6:33 left in the fourth period that gave Western New England a 9-8 lead.

It was a tight game all the way with neither team leading by more than three goals.

Endicott took an early 2-0 advantage when junior midfielder Brendan Eppley (Darien, CT) scored at 9:38 of the opening quarter and junior midfielder Sam Ozycz (Cheshire, CT) followed with another goal 13 seconds later. After each team exchanged goals in a 70-second span, the Gulls went ahead 4-1 when senior midfielder Kyle Jordan (Falmouth, ME) fired in a shot at the 4:25 mark.

The Golden Bears trailed by two when White tallied a man-up goal with 1:01 left in the stanza.

White got Western New England within a goal with another score just 1:33 into the second period and Lawton tied the game at 4-4 with a shot just 1:49 left before the break. The Golden Bears' defense kept the Gulls off the board as junior goalie Brewster Knowlton (Somers, CT) recorded five of his 13 saves in the quarter.

Each team scored three goals in the third period in a terrific display of all-out hustle.

Endicott went ahead 6-4 when senior attacker Jack Curtis (Chelmsford, MA) scored with 4:24 left in the quarter. Western New England netted three answered goals, taking a 7-6 lead when Lawton scored in a man-situation with 35.3 seconds remaining. The Gulls knotted the game for the third time when sophomore attacker Brian Estes (Derry, NH) hit the back of the net with only 7.1 seconds on the clock.

That set the stage for a wild fourth quarter.

Sophomore attacker Connor McCormack (Norwalk, CT) put the visitors ahead 8-7 with a goal 56 seconds in the period.

The Golden Bears again scored three straight times for a 10-8 advantage. Freshman midfielder Colton Craig (Gales Ferry, CT) started the run with a man-up goal at 10:01 with an assist from junior attacker Joe O'Keefe (Branford, CT) who was playing for the first time in nine games.

Lawton then delivered his biggest goal of the season with 6:38 remaining and White added what proved to be the game-winner five seconds later following an assist from junior midfielder Joe Martin (Springfield, MA) who won an important face-off.

Endicott didn't back down knocking the lead to one when McCormack found the net with an assist from senior midfielder Chris Cotter (Lordship, CT) with 51.7 seconds left. The Gulls won the ensuing face-off, but Knowlton made a key save before Endicott re-gained possession and called time-out with 18.8 seconds remaining. EC couldn't get off a shot as time expired.

Santare finished with a goal and two assists in another solid outing while junior attacker Andrew Mariani (East Brunswick, NJ) added a goal and assist. Sophomore defender Brian Leistikow (Fort Collins, CO) picked-up a game-high eight ground balls.

For the Gulls, sophomore goalie Mike Klein (Darien, CT) made seven saves with four coming in the opening quarter. Estes contributed a goal and two assists with Cotter also scored a goal for a two-point game. Junior midfielder Sam Ozycz (Cheshire, CT) took 14-of-23 face-offs and had five ground balls along with senior defender Robert Crossett (Katonah, NY).

Endicott had a 38-29 advantage in shots while Western New England had a slight edge in ground balls (30-26). The Golden Bears also were 3-for-6 in man-up goals while the Gulls couldn't convert on four opportunities.

Western New England coach John Klepacki and Sean Quirk of Endicott were lacrosse teammates at Springfield College in the 1990's.