Fourth Quarter Rally Comes Up Short as Golden Bears Fall to Gulls in CCC Championship Game, 12-9

Beauchamp leads Western New England with three goals, Medlicott adds two

BEVERLY, Mass. (May 6, 2017) – The top-seeded Endicott College men's lacrosse team established a four-goal first half lead and went on to claim a 12-9 victory over second-seeded Western New England University in the championship game of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Hempstead Stadium.

With the win, Endicott (10-7) earns the CCC's automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Division III Tournament, while Western New England's season comes to a close at 8-10.  

Top Performers
• Junior Nicholas Beauchamp (Wilbraham, Mass.) led the Golden Bears with three goals on eight shots, while senior Frank Medlicott (Stanwood, Wash.) tallied three points (two goals, one assist) and sophomore Tim Breau (Lima, N.Y.) finished with one goal and one assist.

• Senior Colin Bannon (Westport, Conn.) fueled the Endicott offense, scoring four goals and setting up two others, while sophomore Luke Wallahan (Pleasant Hill, Calif.) also found the back of the net four times.
• Senior faceoff specialist Tommy Hughes (Coram, N.Y.) went 14-of-24 at the X and collected a game-high nine ground balls.

Game Review
• Bannon staked the Gulls to a 1-0 lead with an unassisted strike just over a minute into the contest. Medlicott got the Golden Bears on the board at the 8:15 mark, but Endicott answered with two straight goals by Wallahan at 4:49 and 3:03 to claim a 3-1 lead. Freshman Oskar Djusberg (Abington, Mass.) scored 13 seconds later and Breau found the back of the net with 1:37 remaining in the period as Western New England tied the game at 3-3 heading into the second quarter.
• The Gulls took control of the contest in the second, outscoring the Golden Bears 5-1. Bannon got it started with another unassisted goal 31 seconds into the frame, sparking a 3-0 run that saw the home team take its first three-goal lead (6-3) at the 8:26 mark. Cocks halted Endicott's run, as he won the subsequent faceoff and scored just eight seconds later to cut Western New England's deficit to two (6-4), but the Gulls tallied two goals late in the quarter to establish an 8-4 lead at the break.
• Endicott extended its advantage to five (9-4) on freshman Will Clark's (Burnt Hills, N.Y.) second goal of the game at the 9:11 mark of the third quarter, and the Guills led by the same margin (11-6) heading into the fourth.
• Beauchamp scored twice in the final period (13:30, 6:09) and senior Keegan Dudeck (Longmeadow, Mass.) netted his lone goal of the game with 3:29 remaining as the Golden Bears pulled back to within two (11-9), but they were unable to close the gap. Bannon's fourth and final tally with 1:30 on the clock sealed the victory for the Gulls.

Notes
• Saturday's contest marked the fifth straight meeting between the two programs in the CCC title game and eighth overall with the championship on the line.
• Western New England holds an 11-10 all-time advantage in its series with Endicott.
• The Gulls outshot the Golden Bears 43-36 and held a 27-23 edge in ground balls.