Posted: Apr 07, 2010
BEVERLY, Mass. – After jumping out to an early 3-1 lead after one quarter of play, Endicott College went on an 8-0 run to cruise past visiting University of New England, 16-7, in a The Commonwealth Coast Conference men’s lacrosse game on Wednesday afternoon in Beverly, Mass. The Gulls improve to 6-4 overall and 5-1 in league play, while the Nor’easters dip to 4-7 and 1-5 in the TCCC.
After early goals by \#Chris Cotter\# (Fairfield, Conn.) and \#Jon Thanas\# (Cumberland, R.I.), \#Brad Lipkvich\# (Madison, Conn.) gave the hosts a 3-0 lead as he dodged his way through two UNE defenders and beat goalkeeper Nate Porter (Cohasset, Mass.) with a shot off the right hip.
UNE’s Steven Beem (Barre, Vt.) got the visitor’s on the board before the end of the first frame as he took a feed off goal-line extended and snuck an overhand shot near side on Endicott’s \#Eric Hagarty\# (Sudbury, Mass.). The tally would be the only marker of the half for the Nor’easters, however, as Endicott scored six straight times to enter the intermission with a 9-1 lead.
The hosts strengthened their stranglehold on the contest just 10-seconds into the third quarter as \#Sam Ozycz\# (Cheshire, Conn.) cleanly won the opening face-off and sprinted 35 yards to pot a bounce shot into the UNE cage. The Gulls then added another just 1:29 later, this time man-down, when \#Michael Armstrong\# (Winchester, Mass.) found the back of the net from 10 yards out on the fast break. Endicott led 15-3 after three quarters of play.
UNE outscored the Gulls 4-1 in the final quarter as the Nor’easters battled against the Endicott reserves. Tyler and Dylan Thomas (Pleasantville, N.Y.) each scored for the guests, as did Joe McCarthy (Billerica, Mass.) and Luke DiFiore (Gloucester, Mass.). Tyler Thomas also added two assists in the final frame.
Endicott was led by three goals apiece from Lipkvich and \#Jon Thanas\#. \#Justin Sproul\# scored a pair and eight other Gulls tallied a single goal in the victory. Five Endicott goalkeepers combined to make 14 saves.
UNE had seven different goal scorers with Tyler and Dylan Thomas each scoring a goal and dishing out two assists. Nate Porter took the loss as he made 12 stops and allowed 16 goals against.
Endicott now turns its attention to a busy weekend when the Gulls will travel to Dudley, Mass. to face Nichols College on Saturday, and then will meet seventh-ranked Roanoke in Danbury, Conn. for a neutral site game. UNE faces another difficult opponent on Saturday when the Nor’easters host Western New England College at 1:00 p.m.