DUDLEY, Mass. – The #17 Endicott men's lacrosse team dominated first quarter play against their Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) opponent Nichols on Saturday outscoring the Bison 10-0 in the first 15 minutes en route to a 26-8 victory to improve to 7-2 (3-0 CCC) on the 2014 season. The Gulls saw 16 different players record goals, with sophomore attackman Mitchell Tapley (Falmouth, Maine) leading with four goals, while five different goalies combined to help Endicott maintain their top standing in conference table.
Endicott has a pair of important CCC contests on next week's schedule starting with Wentworth (3-5, 0-2) on Tuesday, April 1st at home starting at 7:00 pm. A match up with North Shore rival Gordon (5-5, 1-1) follows on Saturday, April 5th in their second home game of the week. Nichols fell to 2-6 (0-1 CCC) with the loss.
Gulls junior attackman Nick Pinciaro (Beverly, Mass.) led the team with five points on two goals and three assists with junior Kyle Weber (West Hartford, Conn.) adding four points on a hat trick and one assist. Off the bench, freshmen Kyle Wallack (Madison, Conn.), Will Jennings (Danvers, Mass.) Bobby Perez (Rocky River, Ohio), Spencer Sibley (Wells, Maine), Thomas Harvey (Huntington, N.Y.), and Colin Bannon (Westport, Conn.) all factored in offensively by registering points against the Bison. Wallack and Jennings excelled with combined seven points in the second half after Endicott held a 14-2 advantage at the half.
Sophomore goalie Cameron Bell (Falmouth, Maine) earned his seventh win of the season despite not facing a shot in the scoreless first quarter. Senior Nick Triano (North Andover, Mass.) and freshman Patrick Shelley (Poland, Maine) played the second and third quarters while freshmen Kenney Sturgess (Hampstead, N.H.) and Andrew Samonas (Portsmouth, N.H.) split time in the fourth quarter to help secure the win.
The Gulls defense stymied the Bison with 17 caused turnovers with senior defenseman Christopher Summers (Manchester, United Kingdom) and junior defenseman Ian Knechtle (New Canaan, Conn.) accounting for five of them. Endicott's faceoff men combined for a 27-for-37 effort on the "x" with freshman Tommy Hughes (Coram, N.Y.) matching his early career-high with 18 wins on 21 attempts.
Endicott possessed the ball well, turning in a perfect 17-for-17 effort on clears while committing 14 turnovers.
Endicott as a team scored the most man-up goals of the season with four tallies on the extra-man advantage. Endicott's first three goals of the game came on man-up chances with tallies by Pinciaro, Bannon, and junior midfielder Harrison Cotter (Lordship, Conn.). Cotter assisted on Pinciaro's goal to secure two points on the day.
Other standout games came from junior midfielder Sam Scoba (Franklin, Mass.) who scored twice and assisted on another and junior attackman Artemio Sison III (Sterling Heights, Mich.) who dished out two third quarter assists to Scoba and Jennings.
