Feb. 28, 2009
BEVERLY, Mass. - Endicott senior attackman Brandon Dube (Danvers, Mass.) notched three goals to help the 11th-ranked Gulls to a 9-3 win over visiting RPI on Saturday afternoon in Beverly, Mass. The win improves the Blue and Green to 3-0, while RPI falls to 0-1 in its season debut.
Junior midfield Brad Lipkvich (Madison, Conn.) was quick to open the game as he drove the left side and beat the Engineer's goalie Ryan DeJordy (Albany, N.Y.) for the 1-0 lead. The Gulls would score two more times in the first as Joe Gugino (West Hartford, Conn.) and Dan Cain (Billerica, Mass) found the back of the net with 4:31 and 3:36 remaining in the quarter, respectively.
RPI responded just 2:41 into the second frame as Paul Cerone (Ridgefield, Conn.) let a shot go from 25-yards out that beat a screened Eric Hagarty (Sudbury, Mass.), pulling the Engineers within two at 3-1. Endicott countered with a Jonathan Prentice (Chelmsford, Mass.) tally as he fired a turnaround bounce shot that handcuffed the visitor's netminder and found its way into the back of the net.
It appeared that RPI would steal the late momentum heading into the half as Paul Cerone scored his second of the day off an assist from Nick Billy (Redding, Conn.) with just 55 seconds remaining in the second quarter. However, just as they had done in their previous two games, the Gulls scored with less than three seconds left as Brandon Dube fired a left-handed crank shot under the crossbar to give Endicott a 5-2 lead at the intermission.
Dube's goal was the first of five unanswered as the Gulls poured it on the second half, leading by as many as seven goals in the latter part of the game. RPI scored a late goal in the fourth quarter to break the run, securing the final score of 9-3.
Brandon Dube led all scorers as he notched three goals in the win. Dan Cain upped his team-leading goal total to seven as he scored a pair against the Engineers. Nick Cosco (Londonderry, N.H.) had a goal and an assist while Gugino, Prentice and Lipkvich each had a goal for the Gulls. Jack Curtis (Chelmsford, Mass.) also had two helpers to round out the Endicott scoring.
Eric Hagarty made 10 saves to notch his third-straight win. His counterpart, Ryan DeJordy, stopped five shots for RPI.
Endicott streaks into a lengthy break as the Gulls don't play again unit March 10th when they travel to Williams College. RPI will stay on the road for the second of three when the Engineers square off with RIT on March 8th.
