BEVERLY, Mass. – Sophomore Emily Sawchuck (Cumberland, Maine) scored twice and Endicott posted their second shutout of the season while collecting a 3-0 win on Saturday afternoon over Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) and North Shore Cup rival Gordon in field hockey action at North Field.
Sawchuck tallied in each half, her eighth and ninth goals of the season and senior goalkeeper Taylor Teixeira (Exeter, N.H.) needed to make just one stop as Endicott's attack kept the ball in the offensive end for much of the game and the Gulls' defensive line shut down the visiting Fighting Scots.
Endicott continues their perfect run in the CCC, with a 6-0 mark, while pushing their overall record to 10-3. Gordon falls to 5-10 on the season and drops to 2-4 in the CCC.
Senior Melissa Enright's (York Beach, Maine) 12th goal of the season with 17 minutes remaining sealed the victory for the Gulls.
Endicott controlled play to open the game, keeping the ball in the attacking half of the field for much of the first stanza, a period in which they outshot Gordon 10-1. Sawchuck broke through 25 minutes into play when she finished a pass from senior Hannah Thornberg (Oakland, Maine) on the left side.
Thornberg collected her sixth assist of the year, to go with 13 goals for a team-high 32 points and added to her recently acquired Endicott record, now with 109 career points.
Gordon competed much better in the second half, firing three shots to just four from Endicott and having a 6-3 advantage in penalty corners. Unfortunately for the Scots, this all came after Sawchuck had doubled the Gull's advantage on an unassisted goal just less than two minutes after halftime.
The Gulls finished the game outshooting their opponents 14-4, with the only Gordon shot on goal coming from Melinda Folwer (Winslow, Maine). Fowler also made one of three defensive saves in the game for Gordon, the other two coming from junior Megan Wernig (Gilford, N.H.).
Junior goalkeeper Anna Bury (Huntingtown, Md.) made five stops in the loss for Gordon, including a fine save on a rising laser of a shot from Enright in the first half.
Endicott and Gordon began their second round of conference play and each will only play games in the CCC from here on out. The Gulls will next have a rematch with the Nor'easters of University of New England on Wednesday night at 6:00 pm in Biddeford, Maine. Endicott beat UNE 3-1 on September 29th in the first game on North Field.
Gordon will return home to host Nichols on the same day, with a 4:00 pm start time slated for the Scots and the Bison. Nichols won their home leg of that season series 5-0 on the 29th as well.
