BEVERLY, Mass. – Playing on the North Field for the first time since the 2003 season, the Endicott men's lacrosse team opened up their 2014 schedule with a marquee win over #13 Stevens by a score of 15-11 behind a four-goal game from freshman attacker Colin Bannon (Westport, Conn.) and a career-high 18 saves by sophomore goalie Cameron Bell (Falmouth, Maine).
Endicott (1-0), currently unranked in the early USILA Division III polls, captured their first victory over the Ducks (1-1) since the two programs first met back in 2009. Stevens had won the previous four meetings over Endicott and were coming off a 21-4 victory over Merchant Marine Academy in their season opener. Endicott improved to 2-4 all-time against Stevens and won their first season opener since the 2010 season when they routed Anna Maria.
The Gulls will play the second game of the season on Wednesday, March 5th on the road at Connecticut College. The Camels will play their season opener on March 1st against Roger Williams before playing the Gulls. Endicott and Connecticut College are facing off for just the second time in program history with their last meeting coming on April 14th, 2007, a 16-9 win for the Gulls.
Against Stevens on Sunday, Endicott returned to the North Field, a facility they had previously called home from 1996-2003 before the construction of Endicott Stadium. Endicott put up 15 goals on the Ducks, four from Bannon and three apiece from junior attacker Nick Pinciaro (Beverly, Mass.) and junior midfielder Jeremy Morgan (Ridge, N.Y.). Junior Kyle Weber (West Hartford, Conn.) scored twice and assisted on two other guys while Jonathan Morgan (Ridge, N.Y.), Joshua Tordik (Sayville, N.Y.), and Harrison Cotter (Lordship, Conn.) all chipped in a goal each.
Tordik, the team's assist lead in 2013, had a game-high four assists which is one shy of his career-high. Cotter and Weber each added two assists while Pinciaro tallied one.
Leading Stevens was sophomore midfielder Michael Serrante (Bridgewater, N.J.) who netted three goals while senior Charlie Cronin (Northampton, Mass.) and sophomore Matt Ferentini (South Salem, N.Y.) both scored twice. Singular goals found the back of the net off the sticks of Alex Haubrich (Voorhees, N.J.), Andrew Scrutchfield (Lewes, Del.), and Sean Scrudato (Westfield, N.J.). Junior midfielder Michael Maroon (Virginia Beach, Va.) led the visitors with two assists.
Bell had a standout performance for Endicott between the pipes, stopping 18 Stevens shots on goal and facing 40 shots overall. He tied his career-high that was previously set back on April 20th, 2013 in a loss at Bowdoin. Bell also benefited from strong defensive play from junior defensemen Ian Knechtle (New Canaan, Conn.) and Chris Cooney (Cranston, R.I.) who each caused three turnovers while senior Breck Merritt (Weston, Mass.) caused one. Endicott also got defensive midfield help from Cotter, Tordik, and senior captain Peter Erickson (Yarmouth, Maine) who all caused two turnovers.
Endicott never trailed in this game, scoring the contest's first goal just 32 seconds in off the stick of Morgan and again 4:13 later the first of Pinciaro's three goals to make it 2-0. Endicott would outscore Stevens 4-2 in the opening quarter and again 3-2 in the second quarter to take a 7-4 halftime lead.
The only period in which Stevens held an advantage over Endicott was in the third when they had a run of five goals for and two goals again that included man-up goals by Cronin and Paul Romens (Verona, Wis.). In the fourth, Stevens would pull within one at 12-11 with 11:00 remaining in the game on Ferentini's second goal. Endicott, however, would score three unanswered goals down the stretch by Bannon, Jonathan Morgan, and Jeremy Morgan to put the game away.
Endicott held a slim 40-38 groundball advantage as Pinciaro led with five groundballs with Knechtle, Merritt, and faceoff man Tommy Hughes (Coram, N.Y.) scooping four each. Ducks sophomore Brett Incollingo (Yardley, Pa.) led all players with seven groundballs as he won 9-of-14 faceoffs, part of an 18-of-29 team effort by Stevens.
There were six penalties called on Endicott and five penalties called on Stevens. Stevens went 2-of-6 on man-up chances while the Gulls were 1-of-5. Bannon did score one of his four goals man-down to make it 7-3 in the second quarter.
Stevens returns to action on Saturday, March 1st at home against Springfield. Springfield will be coming off an 11-10 victory over #10 Nazareth.
