NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Endicott men's lacrosse team hit the road for their first away game of the 2014 season as they traveled to Connecticut College in a non-conference matchup. Rookie Colin Bannon (Westport, Conn.) played another impressive contest as he recorded four goals to help lead the Gulls to a 9-6 victory over the Camels. The Blue and Green improve to 2-0, (0-0 CCC) while Connecticut College drops their first game at 1-1, (0-0 NESCAC).
Tonight marked just the second meeting between the two squads as Endicott improves to 2-0 all-time against the Camels. The Blue and Green hit the USILA Division III polls on February 24th after they upset the previously #13 Stevens. In the second week of polls on March 3rd the Gulls jumped eight spots to the #12 position with 122 total votes, two shy of #11 Lynchburg out of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The ranking is their highest ranking since prior to the 2011 season. Endicott was ranked #13 in the country going into that season after coming off a 2010 campaign that saw them go 14-8 overall, win the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship, and a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Against the Camels, the first period was all about the Gulls as they took a 3-0 lead as Bannon recorded three consecutive goals while the Blue and Green held the Camels to just three shots to their 15. The first came at the 3:09 mark as Bannon worked hard to blast the ball past sophomore goalkeeper Bobby Bleistein (Oyster Bay, N.Y.) with the assist going to the 2013 assist leader junior Joshua Tordik (Sayville, N.Y.).
With 2:26 left in the period Bannon tallied two more goals with help from junior Kyle Weber (West Harford, Conn.) and graduate student Peter Erickson (Yarmouth, Maine) who topped off the assists to take the 3-0 lead at the end of the first period.
Leading into the second period the Camels lit up the scoreboard scoring four goals to Endicott's two, led by juniors Briggs Barton (Rye, N.Y.) and Chad Sawyer (Northfield, Ill.) who each tallied two unassisted goals. For the Gulls juniors Kyle Weber (West Hartford, Conn.) and Jonathan Morgan (Lake Panamoka, N.Y.) both earned goals to keep the game at a stalemate entering halftime at 5-5.
The Blue and Green controlled the tempo of the third as they had in the first as they came out firing with three unanswered goals to take an 8-5 lead. Juniors Nick Pinciaro (Beverly, Mass.) and Harrison Cotter (Lordship, Conn.) led the way as Pinciaro recorded his fourth goal of the season while Cotter nailed two goals in one minute to earn three on the season to give Endicott an 8-5 edge entering the final period.
In the fourth period the Camels were held to just one goal on four shots while Bannon tallied his fourth goal of the game with the assist from Weber to secure the 9-6 victory. Sophomore Cameron Bell (Falmouth, Maine) was stealthy between the pipes for Endicott as he moves to 2-0 on the season.
The Gulls will pick back up on Saturday, March 8th when they travel back to Connecticut to face non-conference opponent Eastern Connecticut State at 12:00 p.m. The Warriors are also 2-0 on the season as they have victories over New England College and Babson.
