Second-half surge leads Western New England past Endicott 9-5 in CCC title game

BEVERLY, Mass. – After score two goals at the tail end of the first half against the top seed Endicott to tie the game at four, Western New England carried that momentum into the second half and outscored the Gulls 5-1 as the Golden Bears won the 2013 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Men's Lacrosse Championship 9-5 on Saturday afternoon at Endicott Stadium. 

Western New England (11-6) won their fourth CCC title since joining the conference for the 2008 season and will move on to the NCAA DIII Tournament.  The Golden Bears play their First Round match up on Wednesday, May 8^th against an opponent to be announced during Sunday evening's NCAA Selection Show. 

Endicott (13-6) saw their bid for an eighth conference championship and appearance in the NCAA Tournament fall short despite storming out to a 3-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.  The Blue and Green got two goals from senior attacker Connor McCormack (Norwalk, Conn.) during that first quarter run, who finished the game with a hat trick. 

In the second quarter trailing by two goals, Western New England pulled to within one at 10:38 on sophomore attacker Jon Bota's (Mahopac, N.Y.) first goal, which was assisted by junior Owen Caruso (Port Washington, N.Y.), but fell behind again by two goals after Gulls sophomore Nick Pinciaro (Beverly, Mass.) delivered his 31^st of the spring off a pass from sophomore Scott McCormack (Norwalk, Conn.) four minutes later.

With the first half coming to a closer, the Golden Bears took advantage of a man-up opportunity as junior attacker Adam Knapton (Canandaigua, N.Y.) scored unassisted to make it a 4-3 game with 3:20 remaining.  The Gulls took a timeout at the 1:51 mark and after Western New England goalie Brandon Body (Newtown, Conn.) made his 12^th save of the half on a shot by Harrison Cotter (Lordship, Conn.), the Golden Bears cleared the ball down the field which led to senior midfielder James Reardon's (Longmeadow, Mass.)  game-tying goal with 11 seconds off an assist from Caruso.

Western New England held Endicott scoreless in the third quarter while putting in two goals at the 10:33 and 8:22 to take a 6-4 lead after 45 minutes of play.  In the period, Knapton netted his second of the game then assisted on Bota's second goal.

The Golden Bears struck with back-to-back goals at the start of the fourth quarter to take a commanding 8-4 advantage as sophomore attacker George Knapp (Glen Falls, N.Y.) got a feed from Ryan Marcus (South Hadley, Mass.) at 12:49 and Caruso scored, unassisted, 47 seconds later at 12:02. 

Connor McCormack scored his hat trick goal with 10:08 remaining in the game as the Gulls held a man-advantage.  Sophomore Joshua Tordik (Sayville, N.Y.) recorded his second assist of the game to push him team-leading total up to 30. The Gulls would be held scoreless over the final 10 minutes of the game while Western New England delivered the final goal off the stick of senior Nick Jez (Somers, Conn.) with 2:25 left on the clock.

Golden Bears defenseman Jack Liacos (Beverly, Mass.) had a game-high five caused turnover with four groundballs.  Corey Johnson (Maybrook, N.Y.) added three more caused turnovers for the winners. 

Endicott was led defensively by senior defenseman Anthony Martignetti (Winchester, Mass.) who had two caused turnovers and three groundballs.  Face-off specialist Sam Ozycz (Cheshire, Conn.) had a game-high 11 groundball as he won 15-of-17 attempts at the draw.  Ozycz's season averages are at 13.8 groundballs per game and a .761 face-off win-percentage which are good for a first and second place in the national rankings.

Western New England's Body made 14 saves in the game while his counterpart, Gulls freshman Cameron Bell (Falmouth, Maine) made eight stops between the pipes. 

The Gulls outshot the Golden Bears 35-25 and held a 36-26 advantage on groundballs.  Western New England finished the game 18-of-25 on clear attempts.  Endicott was 17-of-21 on clear attempts.