BEVERLY, Mass. (April 5, 2025) – The Golden Bears traveled to Beverly, Massachusetts, for a showdown with Conference foes, Endicott College. The Gulls opened the game with an eight-goal first quarter led by Cam Fernandez's four goals and one assist. The Gulls would not look back. They outscored the Golden Bears 4-2 in the second and 9-3 in the third before the teams both scored two in the fourth quarter. The Gulls stayed undefeated in the conference with a 23-7 victory over the Golden Bears.

Records:

• Western New England: 5-7 (2-1)
• Endicott College: 8-3 (4-0)

How it Happened:

The Golden Bears and Gulls took the field in Beverly, MA, for the annual conference showdown. Jonathan Salsbury and Christopher Tillotson would stand in goal for WNE and Endicott, respectively. After Chris Catuosco won the opening faceoff for the Golden Bears, Rex Bruschi caused a turnover, which led to a Tommy Tyksinski, and Endicott led 1-0 52 seconds into the contest. Endicott won the ensuing faceoff, but neither team could score right away. Endicott would get the next goal and double their lead, though. Cam Fernandez scored the goal unassisted and doubled the Endicott lead 2:34 into the opening quarter. Thomas Barker won the next faceoff for the Gulls. The teams traded possession of the ball back and forth for a few minutes, with Salsbury having to make a couple of saves to keep the Golden Bears down by only two for a little while. Cam Fernandez would triple the lead shortly after a Salsbury save. Guerin Favreau assisted the goal, and Endicott had a 3-0 lead with 6:36 remaining in the first. The Golden Bears would then call a timeout and try to reset. That would not happen, though. Endicott won the ensuing faceoff and ran the ball down the field. Rex Bruschi scored fourteen seconds later off an assist from Cam Fernandez. Fifty-three seconds after that, Guerin Favreau scored, and Endicott led 5-0. They kept the run going 36 seconds later as they scored once again, with Cam Fernandez scoring and extending the Endicott lead to 6-0. The Golden Bears would win the next faceoff and had two shots go wide, a shot get saved, and another hit the post, but they could not find the back of the net. Endicott kept pouring on the goals with a Nick Graap goal with 2:59 left in the first quarter. WNE trailed 7-0. The Golden Bears had another chance after a save by Salsbury. However, the shot hit the post, and Endicott scored their eighth first-quarter goal with 52 seconds left in the first. The first quarter would end with WNE trailing 8-0. The first quarter stats told the first quarter story. Endicott led 21-7 in shots, 12-1 in shots on goal, 7-2 in faceoff wins, 12-6 in ground balls, and 5-2 in caused turnovers. WNE had more saves, 4-2.

Although Thomas Barker won the opening faceoff of the second quarter, Thomas Labbe got the first goal of the quarter and game for the Golden Bears. WNE trailed 8-1 25 seconds into the second quarter. The teams traded possession of the ball and turnovers for a little while after the goal before WNE was called for a holding penalty. The Gulls had a shot saved by Salsbury during their man-up chance and could not execute a goal. Nick Graap, however, would score right after the man-up chance to give the Gulls a 9-1 lead and followed that with another goal 39 seconds later, and the Gulls were in double digits for goals scored 3:36 into the second quarter. With 10:23 remaining in the first half, Matt Wright scored off a Daniel Burger assist, and Endicott led 11-1. The Golden Bears would earn an extra-man opportunity after a cross-check from the Gulls. Labbe would have a shot during that chance, but Tillotson made the save and stopped the Golden Bears from scoring on the extra-man chance. The Golden Bears would get their second goal of the game a few minutes later, though. Jacob Roy would find the netting with 6:57 left in the second. Rocco DeSimmone won the ensuing faceoff, but the Golden Bears could not capitalize and turned the ball over. Colt Green would sting the crossbar for the Gulls on their next offensive chance. Not long after that shot, Guerin Favreau scored a second goal of the contest, assisted by Tommy Tyksinski, and extended the Endicott lead back to ten. The Golden Bears were then called for a penalty, which Endicott could not capitalize on after Nick Graap hit the post. Then, late in the first half, WNE was called for another penalty, but once again, the Gulls could not make good of the extra-man chance. The Golden Bears would call a timeout just before the half to try to talk through a play to score a goal but could not before the end of the half, and Endicott led 12-2 going into halftime. At the half, Endicott led in shots 41-12, shots on goal 22-5, faceoff wins 13-3, ground balls 25-15, and caused turnovers 11-5. The Golden Bears had more saves, 10-3.

Teegan Alexander entered the game as the Endicott goalie, starting in the third quarter. Guerin Favreau continued the Endicott attack by earning the hat trick goal for Favreau 23 seconds into the third quarter. That was followed by two Alexander saves and a Nick DiSalvo goal. That was DiSalvo's first of the season. After a WNE penalty, Curtis Redd scored for the Gulls, but not during the man-up chance. Endicott led 15-2 2:44 into the second half. Cam Fernandez scored a fifth goal soon after to extend the Endicott lead to 16-2. The Golden Bears had a couple of chances denied by Alexander with just under nine minutes left in the third before James Wrynn scored Wrynn's first goal of the season. The Golden Bears trailed 16-3. The Gulls responded with more goals. After a Salsbury save, Brendan Batchen assisted a Matt Wright goal. Then, Curtis Redd netted another goal with 5:05 remaining in the third quarter. Teegan Alexander made a save shortly after that before Brendan Batchen scored a goal, with Matt Wright assisting the goal. The Gulls led 19-3 with 4:03 left in the third. The teams traded the ball back and forth for a couple of minutes before Nick Graap scored a fourth goal to extend the Gulls' lead to 20-3. The Golden Bears got a goal back with 1:30 left in the third. Jacob Roy scored the fourth goal for the Golden Bears. However, 28 seconds later, Tommy Tyksinski scored an unassisted goal with 1:02 left in the third. The Gulls were called for a penalty with 24 seconds left in the third. Thomas Labbe scored on the man-up chance to end the third. WNE trailed 21-5 leading into the fourth quarter. After three quarters of play, the stat line saw Endicott leading in shots 63-22, shots on goal 34-12, faceoff wins 20-8, ground balls 45-26, and caused turnovers 12-6. WNE had more saves, 13-7.

Zachary Licavoli would start the fourth quarter in goal for the Gulls. The teams would trade possession in the beginning of the fourth and final quarter. The Golden Bears gave the Gulls a man-up chance early in the fourth, but the Gulls could not capitalize. The teams would trade possession for a little while before WNE was called for another penalty and gave Endicott a man-up chance once again, which they would also kill off. Possession was traded back and forth as neither team could seem to score in the fourth quarter. Then, Ben Merena found Donovan Devellis for the 22nd goal of the afternoon for Endicott. Endicott led 22-5 with 7:18 left in the contest. Jacob Roy answered with Roy's hat trick goal just over a minute later off a feed from Dylan Nardone. Derek Thompson then scored 33 seconds after Roy to give the Gulls a 23-6 lead with 5:41 left in the game. 40 seconds later, Jacob Roy scored a fourth goal of the day to close the deficit to 23-7. The teams would trade the ball for the rest of the game, and neither team would be able to score again after the flurry of goals that had been part of the middle part of the fourth. The Gulls would earn the win 23-7 and stay undefeated in conference play while handing the Golden Bears their first loss in the conference this season. Endicott ended the game leading in shots 70-29, shots on goal 39-16, faceoff wins 22-11, ground balls 53-34, and caused turnovers 16-8. WNE had more saves, 16-9.

Inside the Lines:

• The Gulls were led on offense by Cam Fernandez, who had five goals and two assists (seven total points).
• Nick Graap and Guerin Favreau would also tally hat-trick performances with four and three goals, respectively.
• Thomas Barker led the Gulls with 13 ground balls.
• Nick DiSalvo caused three turnovers for the Gulls' defense, and the three Endicott goalies totaled nine saves and let up seven goals.
• The Golden Bears were led on offense by Jacob Roy, who scored four goals and picked up six ground balls.
• Jack Houlden led the Golden Bears with three caused turnovers.
• Jonathan Salsbury made 16 saves for the Golden Bears.
• Endicott defeated WNE 23-7.

Up Next on the Schedule:

The Golden Bears will return to Golden Bear Stadium for another weekday home conference clash. They will host the Wentworth Institute of Technology Leopards at 7:00 PM. In the 17-year history between these two teams, the Golden Bears hold a 17-0 record and look to make it 18 wins on Wednesday, April 9, 2025.