SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The No. 10 Western New England College men's lacrosse team presented coach John Klepacki with his 100th career victory after posting a 13-4 victory over No. 12 Endicott in a battle of nationally-ranked teams Saturday afternoon (April 4). Klepacki now has a 100-37 record (73.0%) in eight seasons.

Junior Tim Santye (Skillman, NJ) led the attack with three goals and two assists while senior Scott Kukis (Sudbury, MA) and freshman Nick Jez (Somers, CT) each netted three goals.

Endicott took an early 1-0 lead when senior Brandon Dube (Danvers, MA) fired home a shot just 1:28 into the contest. Kukis knotted the contest at the 11:14 mark before the Gulls took their last lead following a score by senior Eddie O'Reilly (Beverly, MA) with 5:07 left in the period.

Jez hit the back of the net with 7:50 left in the second quarter and Kukis scored 16 seconds later to give WNEC the lead for good. Kukis added his final goal with 5:36 left in the half as the hosts took a 4-2 lead at intermission.

The Gulls pulled within a goal when junior Brad Lipkvich (Madison, CT) scored 1:20 into the third period. Western New England College answered with nine consecutive goals to break the game open. The Golden Bears' defense held Endicott scoreless for 27 minutes, 40 seconds.

Seniors Matt McAnneny (Wakefield, MA) and Jared Pabis (Wilbraham, MA) each had eight ground balls. Freshman goalie Brewster Knowlton (Somers, CT) finished with seven saves. Senior Eric Hagarty (Sudbury, MA) stopped nine shots for the Gulls (8-2) who suffered their first conference loss in four outings.

WNEC improves its record to 6-1 with its sixth straight victory and remains unbeaten in the league with a 3-0 mark. Today's game also was a rematch of last year's TCCC Championship contest, won by the Golden Bears, 12-10.

2009-04-04