April 17, 2007
WENHAM, MA - Endicott College senior attackman Josh Gilbert (Simsbury, CT/Simsbury) accounted for more than half of the Gulls offense as 20th ranked Endicott snuck past North Shore rival Gordon College, 13-11, Tuesday afternoon in a battle of CCC unbeaten teams. The win puts the Gulls in sole possession of the top spot in the Commonwealth Coast Conference.
Both Endicott and Gordon entered Tuesday's annual showdown with unbeaten CCC records; the Scots started the day 5-0 while the Gulls entered the match-up with an unblemished 4-0 record.
Gordon's Drew Straton (Carmel, IN) opened the scoring just 1:10 into the contest as he took a feed from freshman midfielder Danny Mack (Dublin, OH) to put the home team up 1-0. Josh Gilbert and the Endicott offense fired right back as the senior attackman tallied two of his game-high seven goals just a minute apart at the mid-point of the opening quarter to give the Gulls a 2-1 lead. Gordon's Michael Neumann (Fallston, MD) closed out the opening 15-minutes with an unassisted goal to even the game 2-all after one.
Following back-to-back goals from Gordon's Andrew Kirkaldy (Red Deer, Alberta, Canada) and Neumann, the Gulls caught fire with a 6-0 run over a span of seven minutes to take an 8-4 lead. Josh Gilbert once again led the Endicott offense, netting three of his own during the 6-0 streak. GC freshman Joel Derechinsky (Annapolis, MD) scored two goals in the final five minutes of the half while Endicott's Brandon Dube (Danvers, MA/Danvers) added a goal of his own to send the teams into the break with the score 9-6 in favor of the Gulls.
Drew Straton and Brad Lipkvich (Madison, CT/Avon Old Farms) traded goals to open the third quarter. The Fighting Scots would inch their way closer as Straton and Kirkaldy each found the back the net to send Gordon into the fourth only trailing by two.
Endicott put the game out of reach as Gilbert and Eddie O'Reilly (Beverly, MA/Beverly) each tallied scores to put the visitors up 13-9. Gordon did their best to hang around as Straton struck again to make it a 13-10 game. The Fighting Scots would add one more goal before the final horn, however it wasn't enough as the Gulls took the 13-11 win along with sole possession of first place in the CCC.
Endicott's John Ortolani (Billerica, MA/Billerica) was once again dominant at the face-off X, winning 19-of-26 draws. CCC Co-Player of the Week Nick Cosco (Londonderry, NH/Londonderry) scored a goal and dished out an assist to help push the Gulls to victory. Endicott netminder Sean Kearney (Mahopac, NY/Mahopac) made 12 saves in the winning effort.
Endicott looks to remain unbeaten in the CCC as they play host to New England College on Saturday afternoon in Beverly, MA. The Gulls and the Pilgrims are scheduled for a 4:00 PM face-off.
