Oct. 18, 2007
BEVERLY, MA - The Endicott College men's soccer team suffered a heartbreaking, 1-0 loss at the hands of Eastern Nazarene College as the Crusaders outlasted the Gulls in The Commonwealth Coast Conference action Thursday night.
The two teams were deadlocked at half time with neither side able to gain any advantage. Andy Van Amburg (Pepperell, MA/North Middlesex) broke the scoreless tie early in the second half with a free kick from 30-yards out. Van Amburg put his direct kick on net and was able to get it past the outstretched arms of Endicott goalkeeper Cameron Twiss (Reading, MA/Bishop Fenwick). Despite the blemish Twiss played a strong game in net for EC, making a pair of saves and breaking up a number of Crusader crossing attempts.
His counterpart, ENC goalkeeper Andrew Trice (Quincy, MA/So Shore Christian) was the story of the evening however as he turned away everything the Blue and Green sent his way. Trice made 15 saves, including nine in the second half, to earn the shutout.
Endicott out shot Eastern Nazarene by a wide, 25-6 margin and really put the pressure on as the second half came to a close. During the final 15-minutes of play EC coach Darren Murray pulled backs Eric Booth (Belchertown, MA/Belchertown) and TJ Sapienza (Milford, NH/Milford) up into the offense leaving Michael DeNuzzo (Guilford, CT/Guilford) and freshman Bryan Lee (Rockport, MA/Rockport) as the last line of defense. The strategy nearly paid off as the Gulls attacked Trice with shot after shot but the freshman keeper was up to the task.
The Gulls best chance came on a shot off the foot of junior Ben Graves (Peterborough, NH/Conval). Graves settled a ball at the top right corner of the penalty area and ripped a shot that curled towards the near post but Trice made a diving save to knock the ball over the net and preserve the lead.
Kyle Schmutte (Wilbraham, MA/Minnechaug), Pirapong Sirikietsoong (Bangkok, Thailand) and Joe Scarbo (Milton, MA/Milton) all joined Graves in the near miss category as the Blue and Green simply could not find a way to beat Trice.
Eastern Nazarene walked away with their first win of the season and improved to 1-17 overall, 1-10 in TCCC play. The Crusaders return to action Saturday when they host Wentworth at 2:30 p.m. The Gulls fall to 1-10-3 overall and 1-7-2 in The Commonwealth Coast Conference and return to the turf on Saturday for a Homecoming match-up with TCCC newcomer Western New England College at 7:00 p.m.