BEVERLY, Mass. – A slim margin was all that separated Endicott and Gordon on Saturday afternoon, but the lone goal went in favor of the Fighting Scots, who defeated the Gulls 1-0 and knocked Endicott out of the 2012 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men's soccer tournament.
Endicott, who entered the tournament as the number 3 seed, has now been eliminated at home in the CCC quarterfinals for the second consecutive season. The Gulls record drops to 9-7-4, while Gordon, seeded six in the tournament improves to 6-11-1 on the year.
Fighting Scots junior Andrew Vandervoort (Memphis, Tenn.) scored the only goal of the game in the 57th minute and Gordon held on for the rest of the contest which was played on the edge of a knife blade for most of the 90 minutes.
Chances were almost equal at the end of it all, with Endicott having a 10-4 shot advantage and 6-1 corner kick edge in the first half and the Fighting Scots dominating the second half stats with 9 shots and five corner kicks.
The highlights of the first half came on two defensive saves that stopped point-blank scoring chances for each team.
Gordon almost opened the scoring nineteen and a half minutes in when sophomore Elton Chingapa (Lilongwe, Malawi) sent a header on net that Endicott senior Michael MacLeay (Epping, N.H.) cleared off the line.
Less than ten minutes later, the Gulls had their best chance of the half on a header by junior Bobby Durben (Stow, Mass.), but his effort was stopped on a similarly brilliant defensive play by Fighting Scott freshman Dalton Weaner (Northbridge, Mass.).
The visitors broke the deadlock ten minutes after halftime when senior Eric Ernst (Ridgecrest, Calif.) played a long through ball that Vandervoort was able to run onto and toe-poke by Endicott senior goalkeeper Daniel Higgins (South Kingstown, R.I.). The goal was the team-high 9th of the season for Vandervoort, while Ernst earned his first points of the year with the assist.
MacLeay had two chances to score in the second half for the Gulls,but one effort was sent just wide and the other stopped spectacularly by Gordon sophomore goalie Aaron Horton (Douglas, Mass.).
Junior Alex Elia (Somers, Conn.) also had two attempts on goal, but was unable to beat Horton, who made four saves and improves to 1-1 and records his first shutout of the year.
Higgins made five stops in the effort, but sees his season ledger fall to 8-4-3.
The Gulls will now wait for an expected invitation to participate in the ECAC Division III New England tournament. An appearance would be the second straight for Joe Calabrese's team.
Gordon advances to the CCC semifinals, where they will face the winner of the matchup between #7 Eastern Nazarene and #2 Salve Regina, to be played later Saturday afternoon.
