BEVERLY, Mass. – The ninth-ranked Endicott men's lacrosse team bested NESCAC opponent Connecticut College 12-6 at home on Wednesday to improve their 2015 season record to 3-0 (1-0 CCC) in the early going. Endicott sophomore attacker Colin Bannon (Westport, Conn.) totaled eight points on three goals and tied his career-high with five assists while both senior Ian Knechtle (New Canaan, Conn.) and junior Ben Katzen (Blauvelt, N.Y.) each caused five turnovers in the win.
Endicott continues their home stand on Saturday, March 7th against NEWMAC rival Springfield starting at 3:00 p.m. inside Endicott Stadium. Connecticut College (0-2) looks to garner their first win of the season as they host Middlebury on Saturday for their conference opener at 1:00 p.m.
Endicott scored two quick goals to open the first quarter, the first by senior attacker Nick Pinciaro (Beverly, Mass.) at 13:27 and the second just over a minute later off the stick of senior attacker Kyle Weber (West Hartford, Conn.). The Gulls proceeded to outshoot the Camels 19-3 in the opening period but a standup effort by Connecticut College junior goalie Bobby Bleistein (Oyster Bay, N.Y.) kept Endicott from erupting offensively. Bleistein made 10 saves in the first quarter and after the Pinciaro and Weber goals held the Gulls scoreless for nearly nine minutes until an unassisted tally by Bannon off a failed Camels clear made it 3-0 at the 3:31 mark.
Another hot start to the second quarter by Endicott pushed the home team's lead up to 5-0 as Bannon registered his third assist by finding an open Will Jennings (Danvers, Mass.) two minutes into the period and later, Pinciaro would strike twine for the second time with an assist going to senior midfielder Jeremy Morgan (Lake Panamoka, N.Y.) at 12:18.
After a Connecticut College midfielder got booked for slashing, Endicott showcased the first of four man-up goals on eight opportunities with Weber hooking up with Bannon to make it 6-0 Gulls with 6:34 still remaining until halftime. Connecticut College would get on the scoreboard with 4:48 left in the second quarter as Camels junior midfielder Wyatt Tompkins scored off an assist from sophomore attacker Ross Thompson (Carmel, N.Y.).
Endicott would go into halftime up 7-1 as Weber netted the second Gulls man-up goal of the quarter from Harrison Cotter (Lordship, Conn.).
Connecticut College made second-half adjustments and owned the third quarter, outscoring Endicott 4-0 and converting both man-up chances into goals to turn a six-goal deficit into a two-goal deficit by the start of the fourth quarter. Thompson scored twice in the third quarter, one of an assist from Tompkins and another with the man-advantage from A.J. Vazquez (Bedford, Mass.). The other two goals came off the stick of freshman midfielder Tucker Mscisz (Topsfield, Mass.) including one man-up from Briggs Barton (Rye, N.Y.).
In the fourth quarter, Endicott regained momentum by scoring the first four goals to go up 11-5 midway through the period. Morgan (man-up) and Bannon would beat Bleistein unassisted while the combination of Bannon to Jennings happened for the third time in the game. Connecticut College junior midfielder Penn Sednaoui (Bedford, N.Y.) broke up the scoring momentarily to make it an 11-6 game with 5:29 to go but one final goal with 10 seconds remaining, Pinciaro from junior Fabrian Brunner (Niskayuna, N.Y.) capped off the scoring at 12-6.
Bleistein would finish with 20 saves in the loss as he faced 45 shots including 32 on goal. His counterpart, Endicott junior goalie Cameron Bell (Falmouth, Maine) was strong in the cage with 11 saves en route to his third win of the season.
Endicott was an efficient 18-of-20 on clear attempts while holding Connecticut College to 13-of-20 thanks in part to 18 caused turnovers as a team. The Camels did hold a 15-to-21 advantage on face offs as freshman midfielder Ben Parens (Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.) controlled the "x" while edging the Gulls 38-36 on groundballs. Parens and teammate Jack Griffin (Seaford, N.Y.) led all players with seven groundballs apiece. Bell and Bannon each had six for Endicott.
