BEVERLY, Mass.- Behind a record tying performance from senior Nick Pinciaro (Beverly, Mass.), the Endicott men's lacrosse team defeated Salve Regina 23-4 in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play. With the win, Endicott improves to 20-0 all-time against the Seahawks and improves to 6-2 (2-0) on the season while Salve falls to 1-3 (0-1).
Pinciaro tied a seven year old record for points in a single game with 11 following his seven goal, four assist performance. He joins former Gull Nick Cosco '09 who set the record originally against Castelton State on May 10, 2008. The senior got the scoring started early in the first quarter as he tallied his 18th of the season just 29 seconds into the game with an unassisted goal. Endicott would then tack on three more to grow the lead to 4-0 with 9:14 remaining in the first behind two goals from Kyle Weber (West Hartford, Conn.) and another from Pinciaro. Weber's first tally was unassisted while his second was assisted by Jeremy Morgan (Lake Panamoka, N.Y.), as Pinciaro's second was off of a Harrison Cotter (Lordship, Conn.) dish.
The Seahawks got on the board with 7:48 remaining in the quarter when Steven Russell (Bayport, N.Y.) scored his first of the season to make it 4-1. That goal would be the only tally the visitors would score in the frame as Endicott would go on to tack on five more.
Just seven seconds after the Salve strike, Endicott's faceoff specialist Tommy Hughes (Coram, N.Y.) would win the faceoff and go straight on the attack, beating the Salve keeper for his second of the season. Just over a minute later, Pinciaro would tally his third of the game off a Colin Bannon (Westport, Conn.) assist, his 18th assist of the season. Endicott would add to their lead at the 4:36 mark in the first as Harrison Cotter (Lordship, Conn.) picked up his first of four on the day, with the assist going to Pinciaro. With less than a minute on the clock, the Gulls would tack on two more unassisted goals as Morgan logged his first of the day with 17 seconds on the clock before Pinciaro's fourth of the day closed the scoring with two seconds remaining in the quarter to give the Gulls a 9-1 advantage.
Both teams played a scoreless minutes span to start the second before the Endicott would put together a stretch of four straight to give the home team a 13-1 lead. The Gulls received goals from Thomas Harvey (Huntington, N.Y.), Doug Richardson (Arlington, Mass.) and Pinciaro twice more over that span of four and a half minutes.
The Seahawks were only able to post a single goal again as Alex King (Andover, Mass.) tallied his first of the season, before Colin Bannon notched his first of the day to give the Gulls a 14-2 halftime lead.
In the half, Endicott goalie Cameron Bell (Falmouth, Maine) made two saves on four shots while Matt D'Amore (Duxbury, Mass.) made seven saves on the 21 shots he faced. Both teams would make goalie switches at the break, as Endicott would turn the cage over to Kenny Sturgess (Hampstead, N.H.) while Salve turned to Andrew Watkins (Natick, Mass.) for the second.
The Gulls would once again post a strong offensive quarter in the third as the Gulls would out-score the Seahawks 7-1 as Endicott saw five different players tally goals. Kyle Weber and Colin Bannon would both tack on two more in the quarter to give them four and three, respectively, while Pinciaro, Cotter and Wallack would each record one. Pinciaro was also involved on three other goals as he assisted on both of Weber's and Bannon's second.
Salve's lone goal in the half came from Sharp Jones (Scituate, Mass.) as the junior scored his fourth of the season.
Endicott would switch goalies again, this time one minute into the fourth, bringing in Patrick Shelley (Poland, Maine) to close it out. As was the theme of the day, the sophomore would also hold Salve to a single goal in the quarter, an unassisted tally from Cam Brazill (Ridgewood, N.J.) with 2:24 left in the quarter. Endicott would out-score Salve 2-1 in the quarter as Artemio Sison III notched his first of the season with 8:14 remaining before Carter Glenn (Underhill, Vt.) scored from a Doug Richardson (Arlington, Mass.) with 1:49 left to close out the scoring and give Endicott a 23-4 win.
In net, Bell would improve to 6-2 on the year for the Gulls while D'Amore would fall to 1-3 for the Seahawks. Endicott's replacements played well, as Sturgess made four saves on five shots and Shelley made three stops on four attempts. For Salve, Watkins, who came on in relief of D'Amore at the half, made eight saves on the 17 shots he faced.
For the game, Endicott and Salve split each won 15 face-offs, as Tommy Hughes won a game best 66.6% (14/21). The Gulls out-shot the visitors 63-28 as they were led by Pinciaro who recorded a game high 10, and were 5/10 on man up situations while blanking Salve on eight attempts. Endicott grabbed 71 ground balls to Salve's 34 as Nicholas D'Elia (Stanford, Conn.) registered a game high eight. The Gulls were also able to limit their turnovers, committing just 17 while the Seahawks committed 33, as Jeremy Morgan led the way with three caused turnovers.
With the win, Endicott improves to 20-0 all-time against the Seahawks and improves to 6-2 (2-0) on the season while Salve falls to 1-3 (0-1). Up next for Endicott is a road contest at Wentworth on the 31st before heading north for a non-conference game against Bowdoin on April 4th. Salve returns to action on Wednesday as they head back to the North Shore to take on Gordon.
