WENHAM, Mass. – Facing a familiar opponent in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) and North Shore rival Gordon, Endicott men's lacrosse head coach became NCAA Division III's 13th member of the 200-win club as the Gulls handed the Fighting Scots a 14-3 defeat for their first win this spring.
Quirk, already ranked in the top-10 in all-time winning percentage in NCAA Division III men's lacrosse, came into the 2013 season needing just one victory to reach 200 for his career. In his previous 15 seasons at the helm of the Endicott men's lacrosse program, Quirk has led the Gulls to seven conference championships, seven NCAA Division III Tournament appearances, and at least 10 wins each year.
The Blue and Green earned their first victory of the 2013 season, improving to 1-1 (1-0 CCC), while Gordon dropped to 0-2 (0-1 CCC). Endicott is now 19-5 all-time versus Gordon including four straight wins. Endicott plays their home opener at Endicott Stadium on Wednesday, March 6th at 4:00 pm against Liberty League opponent Skidmore.
Three goals by sophomore Kyle Weber (West Hartford, Conn.) and a pair of scores by senior Connor McCormack (Norwalk, Conn.), junior Jonny Kovach (Shaker Heights, Ohio), and junior Chris Murphy (Holden, Mass.) paced the Endicott offense and 12 saves in the cage by freshman goalie Cameron Bell (Falmouth, Maine) held the Gordon offense to just three goals. McCormack also registered an assist on Weber's second goal of the game.
Defensively, junior Lucas Paratore (Wenham, Mass.) and sophomore Will Farfalla (Glen Rock, N.J.) both caused two turnovers and face-off specialist Sam Ozycz (Cheshire, Conn.) won 17-of-19 opportunities on the draw to help the Gulls obtain possession.
In the first quarter, Endicott outscored Gordon 4-1 as midfielder Kevin Butler (Natick, Mass.) and Weber got the Blue and Green a 2-0 lead before the Scots came back to make it 2-1. Goals by Murphy and Kovach within 23 seconds of each other late in the first quarter started an Endicott streak of 11 straight goals that lasted 1:06 into the fourth quarter.
During that stretch, senior Brendan Hunter (Medford, Mass.), sophomore Harrison Cotter (Lordship, Conn.), sophomore Jonathan Morgan (Lake Panamoka, N.Y.), and junior Mark Cornacchio (Westford, Mass.) all found the back of the net. After Gordon finally scored to break Endicott's rally, the Scots went on to outscore the Gulls 2-1 in the final quarter.
Endicott was 1-of-2 on man-up opportunities with the extra man goal coming from the stick of McCormack in the second quarter. The Gulls successfully cleared the ball 25-of-28 times out of their defensive end. Endicott also had a 49-39 groundball advantage with Ozycz leading the way with 12 and Butler and senior Ryan Sutherland (Sudbury, Mass.) each scooping five.
