WENHAM, Mass.—A seven-goal third quarter was all Western New England needed to turn the game in its favor to beat the Fighting Scots 13-7. Gordon led by one at halftime in search of its first win over the perennial Commonwealth Coast Conference favorite in over a decade, but the Golden Bears' attack broke through for 10 goals in the second half to take the win.
The comeback clinched the first victory of the season for the Golden Bears, who now sit at 1-8 and 1-0 in the CCC. Gordon dips two games below .500 at 3-5 and 0-2 respectively.
Gordon controlled every ounce of momentum over the first 20 minutes of regulation. The Fighting Scots approach of methodically finding the best shot led to long possessions in their attacking end, while Scott Conte (Newbury, Mass.) was sharp in net in just his second career start.
The Fighting Scots put a three-spot on the board in the first quarter with goals form Nick Palandjian (Belmont, Mass.), Hunter Ward (Fauquier, Va.) and Nico Manganiello (Peabody, Mass.). Manganiello finished off his second goal of the game on a nice feed from Palandjian at the halfway point of the second quarter to give the Scots a 4-0 cushion.
WNE's leading scorer Nicholas Beauchamp (Wilbraham, Mass.) broke the silence from the visitors with a goal taken in himself to beat Conte low for a 4-1 score. The Golden Bears put another on the board less than a minute later on a connection between Jared Ward (Littleton, Mass.) and Keegan Dudeck (Longmeadow, Mass.) to cut the deficit in half. Frank Medlicott (Stanwood, Wash.) halved it again with a crafty goal with 3:29 to go as Gordon's lead was cut to one goal at the break.
The Golden Bears turned the tables on the game with three goals in a minute and half to begin the third quarter. The 6-0 run spanning 11 minutes of game time between the two halves gave the winless Golden Bears to confidence they needed moving forward.
Hunter Ward briefly answered back for the Fighting Scots to make it a 6-5 game with 8:54 to go in the third, but that would be Gordon's only goal of the period. Western New England scored four more in the stanza to make it a 10-5 game.
Gordon was able to get as close as four goals on scores by Palandjian and Thor Rasmussen (Fairfax, Va.), but WNE extended the lead back out by the end.
Dudeck was the game leader with seven points on four goals and three assists. Jared Ward also added a four-goal game to go with a help. Face-off specialist Hunter Cocks (Walden, N.Y.) won 18-of-22 chances and picked up a game-high 10 ground balls. Beauchamp also had a hat trick for WNE.
Three Gordon players scored two goals each. Freshman Tyler Pauls (Littleton, Colo.) was the breadwinner on defense with two caused turnovers and five pickups.
Steven Kerr (Hopkinton, Mass.) earned his first win of the season in net, making 10 stops. Conte's excellent performance was not diminished despite the loss, making 15 saves to keep Gordon in the game until the end.
The Fighting Scots will look to rebound on Saturday at home against Salve Regina. The Golden Bears head home to host UNE on Saturday at 4 p.m.
