MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The Endicott men's lacrosse team faced their third straight nationally-ranked opponent in #17 Middlebury and were outscored 4-1 over the final 15:39 of the game as the Gulls lost 11-10 to the Panthers. Endicott, ranked eighth in the most recent USILA Division III Coaches' Poll, opens up their CCC schedule on Saturday, March 21st at home against Salve Regina.
Back-to-back goals by Gulls sophomore attacker Colin Bannon (Westport, Conn.), unassisted, and senior attacker Kyle Weber (West Hartford, Conn.), from Sam Scoba (Franklin, Mass.), put Endicott head 9-7 midway through the third quarter before Middlebury stormed back.
With under a minute to go in the third, Panthers junior attacker Tim Giarrusso (Hingham, Mass.) scored his team-leading third goal of the game from teammate Jon Broome (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) before Broome found the back the cage himself with an unassisted strike with only 10 ticks remaining to tie the game at 9-9 going into the fourth quarter.
Middlebury junior midfielder Sean Carroll (Wilton, Conn.) gave the Panthers their first lead since the opening quarter at the 11:56 mark before Gulls senior captain Harrison Cotter (Lordship, Conn.) netted his third goal of the contest, from Weber, to knot the scoreboard at 10 goals apiece. With 3:26 remaining in regulation, Middlebury would score the go-ahead and game-winning goal off the stick of junior attacker Jack Rautiola (Acton, Mass.) with the assist going to Joel Blockowicz (Potomac, Md.).
In the game's final moments, Endicott forced a Middlebury turnover on a clear attempt and took two shots on Panthers goalie Will Ernst (San Francisco, Calif.) with under 20 seconds remaining but Ernst made his eighth and ninth saves of the game to secure the win.
Cotter (three goals) and Weber (two goals, assist) each had a team-best three points in the loss with senior attacker Nick Pinciaro (Beverly, Mass.) scoring twice. Senior midfielder Jonathan Morgan (Lake Panamoka, N.Y.) had a goal and an assist and both Bannon and junior attacker Mitchell Tapley (Falmouth, Maine) tallied goals.
Gulls junior goalie Cameron Bell (Falmouth, Maine) made 15 saves in the loss and defenders Ian Knechtle (New Canaan, Conn.), Michael Ryan (Falmouth, Maine), Scoba as well as Pinciaro caused turnovers.
Middlebury held a 37-26 edge in groundballs as Knechtle led the way with seven groundballs for Endicott. The Panthers won 15-of-25 face-offs. Both teams went 1-of-2 on man-up opportunities. Endicott completed 21-of-25 clear attempts.
