PHOTO BY ENDICOTT ATHLETICS
Athan Goulos has been a star on the Endicott College golf team this season.
By JOSHUA KUMMINS
Golf has pretty much taken Athan Goulos up and down the East Coast.
After walking on at NCAA Division II powerhouse Saint Leo University to begin his collegiate career, the Peabody native came home and has helped Endicott College to success this fall.
“I’ve been playing well individually during our tournaments, and was fortunate enough to win one,” Goulos said. “One tournament, I was probably halfway in the field. But all the others, I was probably inside the top-15. I’m playing some good golf right now and I’m happy that things are panning out after a lot of hard work.”
Goulos finished among the top-five golfers at four different tournaments this season en route to earning New England Intercollegiate Golf Association (NEIGA) All-Region honors.
The Peabody High grad won the individual title at Elms College’s Blazer Invitational in September, while most recently helping the Gulls to a sixth-place team finish at the NEIGA Division III Championship by finishing sixth with a two-day score of 151 last week.
“Athan has performed great,” said Tom Smith, the Gulls’ sixth-year head coach. “Coming into the season, he showed a lot of patience coming in from a Division II program. There are a lot of expectations there that he’s supposed to be the superstar on campus … and he’s come into sync really nicely.”
The 6-foot-1, 275-pound Goulos was named Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Men’s Golfer of the Week after his win at Elms. He led that tournament with seven birdies and recorded pars on 21 other holes, finishing the two-day event with a final-round 72.
Smith knew of Goulos’ success on the amateur circuit ― as a four-time Boston All-Scholastic honoree and former captain at Peabody High ― before he joined Saint Leo as a walk-on, and the two had prior connection as Smith was formerly the assistant pro at Ferncroft Country Club in Middleton.
Goulos has fit right in since returning north to join the Gulls, quickly becoming one of the team’s most important players ― and a successful one at that.
“Obviously, he was a tremendous junior golfer,” Smith said. “It takes a lot of perseverance (from junior golf to high school) to be great at golf, and Athan has evolved into a great leader for our program and he’s stepped right in to the role of an All-American Honorable Mention.”
That very same honor was bestowed upon Austin Teal, a team captain and two-time CCC Golfer of the Year who graduated in May. It has been a long road for Goulos, but he’s finally seeing some tangible results that prove it has all been worthwhile.
“They nominated six or seven kids in the whole tournament for All-New Englands,” Goulos said of his NEIGA honor. “Just the ability to see things are panning out was really nice to see, and I’m looking forward to what the spring has in place.”
As the Gulls seek their fifth CCC title in six years this spring, Goulos has lofty ambitions. He hopes to help the team to an NCAA Tournament berth or continue his strong play into earning one as an individual.
While Goulos cites his grandfather, Dr. John S. Parianos, as his greatest influence in golf, he continues to benefit from the lessons of Miami-based instructor Jim McLean.
“Listening to a professional like himself really helped me to become the player I am right now,” Goulos said of McLean, who he worked with during his two years at Saint Leo. “He said the biggest difference between amateurs that are scratch college golfers and professionals is the mental game, so I’m just taking that into consideration and focusing on staying in the present.”
While Goulos’ tenure at Endicott has been a rather short one, he’s already established himself as a key figure on the team, and one Smith says the rest of the team looks up to greatly.
“He garners a lot of respect from the team already, and he’s only been here a year,” Smith said. “His personality, his leadership and his character, they’ve all just helped us go in the right direction as a squad, so he was a perfect fit for the model we are trying to embody here.”
Names and notes
- Marblehead’s Jake Kulevich netted his first goal of the season on Saturday night as the Colgate University hockey team entered the win column with a 5-3 win over Maine. Kulevich, the Raiders’ senior captain, has four points through seven games.
- Saugus native Mike Vecchione scored his tenth goal of the season for the Union College hockey team ― the game-winner 1:06 into overtime ― in Saturday night’s 3-2 victory over rival RPI. The Malden Catholic alum has ten goals and 16 points in just eight games.
- Saugus’ Sophia Cogliano scored the deciding goal and an assist in the Endicott College field hockey team’s 2-1 victory over Western New England last Wednesday before posting two helpers 3-0 shutout of local foe Salem State three days later. Cogliano, whose goal against WNEU was her fourth game-winner, was named CCC Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season on Monday.
- Lynn English grad Jevon Brown-Simpson rushed for a team-high 39 yards on 21 carries and scored a touchdown in the Fitchburg State University football team’s 26-8 win over Westfield State. Lynn native and Bishop Fenwick grad Dakota Mullen led the Falcons with four receptions, including an eight-yard catch for his second collegiate touchdown.
- Lynnfield’s Justin Foley averaged more than 40 yards per punt for the second time this season while Winthrop’s Mark Upton recorded seven tackles as the Bates College football team earned a 21-19 win over rival Bowdoin. Upton leads the 2-4 Bobcats with 71 tackles, including ten for a total loss of 45 yards, and 4.5 sacks on the season.
- Peabody native and Bishop Fenwick grad Nick Bona recorded nine tackles in the Stonehill College football team’s 30-6 loss to Assumption. Lynnfield’s Andrew Kibarian made six solo tackles among his eight total for the Skyhawks, including 2.5 tackles for a seven-yard loss and one sack for a six-yard loss.
