April 11, 2009
BEVERLY, Mass. - The 17th-ranked Endicott men's lacrosse team scored 15 first half goals including four in the game's first three minutes as the Gulls smacked Nichols College, 22-2, on Senior Day in Beverly, Mass. With the win, Endicott improves to 10-2 overall and 4-1 in TCCC play, while Nichols falls to 3-6 and 0-4 against league opponents.
Endicott, which honored its 14 senior class members - nine of which started the game, scored four goals in the opening three minutes of action to quickly jump out to a comfortable lead. The Gulls led 7-0 after the first quarter and carried a dominating 15-1 lead into halftime. Fitting of the situation, the first nine goals of the game came off the respective stick of an Endicott senior class member.
Nichols final broke senior Shane Gallagher's (Lowell, Mass.) shutout bid as Garrett Hill (Braintree, Mass.) took a pass from Brian Donnelly (Weymouth, Mass.) and beat the Endicott goalie with a bounce shot from 15-yards out. From there, Endicott would respond with seven unanswered to pad the lead at 19-1. A Nichols' man-up goal from Brian Gattie (Plainfield, N.H.) made it 19-2 only to have the Blue and Green score the game's final three goals to take the decision, 22-2.
The Gulls had 15 different players register a goal and were led by senior Nick Cosco's (Londonderry, N.H.) four tallies. Senior Taylor Wuenneman (Southington, Conn.) had three goals and an assist while classmate Brandon Dube (Danvers, Mass.) had two goals and three helpers in the win. Senior Joe Gugino (West Hartford, Conn.) went 16-of-17 in face-offs and dished out two assists and senior goalie Shane Gallagher ended the day with eight saves before giving way to freshman Rich Parez (Manorville, N.Y.) for the final quarter. The Endicott seniors totaled 13 goals and eight assists in the victory.
Endicott held a dominating 71-20 advantage in shots, and controlled the ground ball game at a 65-24 clip. Nichols struggled to clear the ball all afternoon, only converting on 14 of its 30 attempts (46%). Bison goalkeeper Austin Healy (Westford, Mass.) made 15 saves after relieving starter Scott Gray (Annapolis, Md.) after the first quarter.
Nichols looks to rebound on Wednesday when the Bison travel to Wenham, Mass. to face Gordon College in a TCCC contest. Endicott now turns its attention to a crucial non-conference game against 10th-ranked Tufts University on Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. in Beverly, Mass. The game will be webcast live online - free of charge - through Endicott's broadband webcasting channel Endicott All-Access beginning at 6:55 p.m.
