Return to Glory; Endicott Men's Lacrosse Captures First CCC Title Since 2011

2015 CCC Men's Lacrosse Championship Interactive Bracket
Endicott Men's Lacrosse Championship History

BEVERLY, Mass. – For the first time since the 2011 season, the Endicott men's lacrosse team will enter the NCAA Division III Tournament with an automatic bid after the ninth-ranked Gulls staved off a fierce comeback attempt by conference rival Western New England to capture the 2015 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship by a score of 13-12 on Saturday afternoon.

The program's eighth CCC title came after Endicott, the top seed in the tournament after going 8-0 in their league schedule, cruised by #5 Gordon in the semifinal round before edging Western New England by one goal in the championship. Endicott and Western New England have now played each other six times in the CCC Championship with the Gulls winning in 2011 and 2015.

Endicott (15-3) moves on to compete in the NCAA postseason for the ninth time which begins on Wednesday, May 6^th with First Round action. The tournament bracket will be revealed on Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. with the online NCAA Selection Show. In 2014, Endicott earned its first-ever at-large bid and reached the NCAA Second Round where they fell to the eventual national champion Tufts by one goal.

Junior goalie and CCC Defensive Player of the Year Cameron Bell (Falmouth, Maine) made 10 of his 17 saves in the first half to keep the Western New England offense from finding the back of the net while the Gulls offense clicked in the opening two quarters by taking a 7-2 halftime lead. Seven different goal scorers beat Golden Bears senior goalie Brandon Body (Newtown, Conn.) while senior midfielder Joshua Tordik (Sayville, N.Y.) registered two of his three assists in the first half.

Gulls senior attacker Kyle Weber (West Hartford, Conn.) scored four goals to lead the attack including three in the second half to help Endicott ward off Western New England's furious comeback. After Tordik netted his fourth and final point of the game on an unassisted goal shaking off a Golden Bear defender and beating Body high to make it 11-5, Western New England began to creep back into contention with three straight goals to end the third quarter. Junior midfielder Patrick Dillon (Baldwin, N.Y.) scored two of those goals as the Golden Bears went into the fourth quarter trailing by just three.

Endicott opened up the fourth with sophomore Will Jennings' (Danvers, Mass.) third goal of the game, off an assist from junior Mitchell Tapley (Falmouth, Maine) to go up 12-8 at the 12:00 mark. The two teams went scoreless for nearly eight minutes until after a cross-check penalty on Bell, Western New England took advantage of their man-up chance as sophomore attacker Frank Medlicott (Stanwood, Wash.) scored to make it a 12-9 game.

Weber scored what would be the game-deciding goal with 2:09 to go off an assist from sophomore attacker Colin Bannon (Westport, Conn.) to push the Endicott lead up to 13-9 as the Golden Bears tallied three goals with less than 40 seconds to go. Jon Bota (Mahopac, N.Y.), Keegan Dudeck (Longmeadow, Mass.), and Dillon all scored after crucial face-off wins by junior specialist David Cedrone (Yantic, Conn.) to fuel Western New England's comeback.

With 10 seconds left after Dillon's goal to make it 13-12, Endicott sophomore Tommy Hughes (Coram, N.Y.) won the most important of his 13 face-off wins back to senior Ian Knechtle (New Canaan, Conn.) for his 11^th groundball and the Blue and Green were able to run out the clock to secure the 2015 CCC Championship.

Along with Weber (four goals), Jennings (three goals), and Tordik's (one goal, three assists) output, Bannon and senior attack Nick Pinciaro (Beverly, Mass.) each factored in offensively with a goal and two assists apiece. Pinciaro, the CCC Offensive Player of the Year, added four groundballs to his stat line. Seniors Harrison Cotter (Lordship, Conn.), Jeremy Morgan (Lake Panamoka, N.Y.), and Jonathan Morgan (Lake Panamoka, N.Y.) all scored a goal in Endicott's championship win as well.

For Western New England, Dillon's three goals led the way while Dudeck, Justin Bard (Westfield, Mass.), and Dan McKenna (Merrick, N.Y.) all had two goals and an assist. Single goals by Bota, Medlicott, and Max Berteletti (Montgomery, N.J.) contributed to the Golden Bears offense. Cedrone won 16-of-29 face-offs and grabbed 10 groundballs and helped his team hold a 42-36 overall groundball advantage.