Gulls Roll Past Golden Bears in Important CCC Contest

BEVERLY, MA (April 22, 2023) – The Western New England Men's Lacrosse team traveled to Endicott College for their last regular season road game today to take on the Gulls, with both teams tied at the top of the conference at 6-0. Endicott would be too much for the Golden Bears on the day, defeating WNE 16-7.  

Records:

• Western New England: 8-8 (6-1)
• Endicott College: 11-4 (7-0)

How it Happened:

Endicott came out of the gates hot, looking to get revenge for last year's loss to WNE in the CCC Championship. Nick Pagluiso would net the first goal of the game, two minutes into the contest, putting the Gulls up early. WNE would try to answer on the ensuing possession, following a Chris Catuosco faceoff win, but Endicott goalkeeper Tim Luciano would make three saves in a row before Endicott would gain possession, leading to Domenic Valera finding Nate Cuttitta to put the Gulls up a pair. WNE would answer 39 seconds later, as Ben Kolb would assist Jack Houlden to put the Golden Bears on the board. A few minutes later with 7:27 left in the first, Valera would add another point, netting a goal to put Endicott back up by two. Cuttitta would add another goal with 3:41 left in the first, after both teams traded possessions over the previous could minutes. Neither team would score during the remainder of the quarter as Endicott led 4-1 after the first.

Endicott would dominate the second just as they did the first, scoring another four goals in the second 15 minutes of play. Golden Bear goalie, Carter Randall, would make a save 49 seconds into the quarter, before Pagluiso would score for the Gulls, a few minutes later. Valera would add another goal for the Gulls 23 seconds later, after a Gulls' faceoff win. Jacob Roy would try halt the Gulls' momentum, as he scored a goal from Mike Bannon for the Golden Bears. Endicott would not allow WNE to make a run, as Max Kesicki would score for the Gulls, two minutes later. Both teams would get opportunities, but it would be Domenic Russo netting the Gulls' second goal in a row to put them up 8-2. Randall would make two saves over the next five minutes of game time, before Zachary Mein would find Bannon with 1:27 left in the first half. Neither team scored the rest of the quarter, as Endicott led 8-3 going into halftime.

The third quarter saw Endicott nearly double their amount of goals thus far, as they would score seven during the quarter. Neither team would score until the 9:39 mark of the third, as Luciano would make three saves and Randall would make a pair of saves, but he was unable to make a third as Nick Graap fired a shot past him. Endicott would score three goals over the next two and a half minutes, coming from Russo, Graap and Kesick, to put the Gulls up 12-3. A minute and a half later, Mein would score for WNE, to try to start the momentum. Endicott would not allow it again, as they would net three answered goals over the last four and a half minutes of the quarter, coming from a paid from Russo and one from Graap. Randall made four saves over that period of time, but the Endicott pressure was too much as the Gulls led 15-4 heading into the final 15 minutes of play.

The fourth quarter would be the lowest scoring quarter on the day as only four goals would be scored. Randall would make another save to open the quarter, that would result in Mein netting another goal to cut the Gulls' lead to 10. Mein would add another goal four minutes later for his third on the day. 15 seconds later, following a Catuosco faceoff win, Bannon assisted Dylan Hanley for WNE's third straight goal. Kesicki would halt WNE's momentum as he netted another goal for the Gulls, 43 seconds after Hanley's. In the final nine minutes of game time, Randall would make two more saves to keep the Gulls scoreless the remainder of the way. Unfortunately for Western New England, they were unable to net another goal the rest of the way as well, as they would fall to the Gulls in the end, 16-7. 

Inside The Crease:

• WNE suffers their first loss in CCC play on the season and falls to 8-8 overall.
• Zachary Mein led the team with four points (three goals and one assist). 
• WNE went 17-26 on faceoffs, with Catuosco going 17-25.
• Randall followed his season high of 17 saves in the previous game with 16 saves on the day today.
• Endicott was led by five points from Nick Pagluiso (two goals and three assists). 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Western New England will wrap up their regular season at home against Nichols College on Wednesday, April 26, at 7:00 p.m.
• Endicott will end their regular season schedule hosting Gordon College on Wednesday, April 26, at 7:00 p.m.