Gulls run unbeaten streak to five; win 5-0 over Eastern Nazarene

Gulls run unbeaten streak to five; win 5-0 over Eastern Nazarene
Box Score

BEVERLY, Mass. –
As they have for the past two weeks, the Endicott men’s soccer team continued to play strong as they ran their unbeaten streak to five games with a 5-0 conference victory over Eastern Nazarene at Endicott Stadium Wednesday evening. 
 
The Gulls, with four wins and a tie since September 29th, improved their 2011 record to 4-6-3 (2-2-2 CCC) while the Lions dropped to 3-11 (0-6 CCC).  Dating back to September 20th, Endicott is 4-1-3 with 14 goals scored to just six allowed. 
 
Endicott and Eastern Nazarene battled back and forth through nearly 37 minutes of first half action until the Gulls got on the scoreboard.  At 36:29, sophomore midfielder Ryan D’Amico (Marlborough, Conn.) delivered a deep, free kick pass into the box to junior Kevin Gnecco (North Hampton, N.H.) who sent a strong header to the top right corner to put Endicott up 1-0.  It was Gnecco’s first goal of the season.
 
Almost six minutes later, Gulls senior midfielder Nick Goldman (South Windsor, Conn.) approached a loose ball from nearly 20 yards away and fired a live drive shot to the upper half of the net for his first goal of the season.  The goal put Endicott on top 2-0. 
 
The Lions had their chances in the first half as they outshot Endicott 9-5 in the first 45 minutes.  In the 15th minute, Eastern Nazarene freshman defender Jared Corbin (Fallston, Md.) attempted a shot from close range that hit the crossbar and went out of bounds. 
 
Later in the 27th minute, Lions senior Jon Corbin (Fallston, Md.) sent a soft touch pass up the middle to Cameron McCormack (Griswold, Conn.) who took a shot that dribbled just left of the goal post.  A minute later, Corbin nearly scored on his own with a low, hard shot that Endicott goalie Aaron Kanter (Medfield, Mass.) deflected out of bounds for the save. 
 
At the 73:07 mark in the second half, Endicott pushed their lead to 3-0 on freshman forward Alex Jorge’s (Billerica, Mass.) first goal of the game.  Jorge was the recipient of a sequence of touch passes from Ryan Santoro (Millbury, Mass.) and Nick Goldman that found Jorge for the open shot.  
 
Just over three minutes later, Ryan D’Amico weaved around an Eastern Nazarene defender and rocketed a right-footed attempt high and just over the outstretched hands of Lions keeper Jake Johnson (Mount Bethel, Pa.).  It was D’Amico’s first goal of the season. 
 
Finally, with 91 seconds remaining in the second half and a newly inserted Lions goalie Seagers Rodrigues (Belgaum, India) between the posts, Alex Jorge scored his second goal of the match.  Jorge and Rodrigues raced for a loose ball away from the net but as the two nearly collided, the ball trickled past the keeper to Jorge who finished into the open net.  Jorge now has four goals on the season to lead the Gulls.
 
Endicott goalie Aaron Kanter finished with four saves and improved to 4-2-3 on the year while Eastern Nazarene’s Jake Johnson took the loss (0-6) after making three saves and allowing four goals. 
 
The Blue and Green will host CCC rival Nichols on Homecoming Weekend on Saturday, October 15th at 5:00 pm in Endicott Stadium.  Eastern Nazarene will host Gordon on Saturday in a conference showdown starting at 1:30 pm.