NASHUA, N.H. – Endicott hit the road on Wednesday night to Nashua, N.H. for an out of conference match up against Rivier College. The Raiders welcome the now 1-2 Gulls to campus for their first game of the season and their home opener. Senior Bobby Durben (Stow, Mass.) scored the lone goal for the Gulls tallying his first of the season. The night consisted of a constant battle between the two squads and forced the match into two overtimes in which the Raiders came out on top after scoring in the final 24 seconds of extra time.
The first half of the game was quiet for both teams. Freshman Sebastian Rozo (Stamford, Conn.) sent a pass to Durben who let off a shot with 11:32 left in the half that hit the crossbar and bounced back into the back of the net to put the Gulls on top. As the half was nearing an end the Raiders were able to get on the board with 4:35 remaining as freshman Anthony Capozzi (Windham, N,H.) was able to collect the ball off a throw in from freshman Devin Scott (Manchester, N.H.) and bank it into the goal from 15 yards out to tie up the game.
Endicott came out of half time with high energy because they came out firing in the second frame with a few scoring opportunities and 18 shots but none were successful. Rivier kept sophomore goalkeeper Austin Peluso (Farmington, Conn.) the rest of the Gulls defense on their toes with a few scoring chances, but they were able shut down their four shots.
Both squads could not make any magic happen as the second half came to an end and forced an overtime period. Both squads tallied two shots on net but none found the back of the net. Senior James Mercer (South Hadley, Mass.) was able to collect the ball on a corner kick by Senior Alex Elia (Somers, Conn.) to blast one towards the Raiders goalkeeper freshman Gary Archambault (Auburn, N.H.) but he was able to make the deflection. Mercer grabbed his own rebound off the save and sought the net but the second shot was just wide. The first overtime ended in a stalemate and headed into a second series of extra time.
Both teams were up for a battle as they headed into the 105th minute of play. Endicott took a handful of shots from Durben, junior Jed Magnusson (Kingston, N.H.) and freshman Edwin Demoya (Salem, Mass.) but was just shy of a Gulls goal. Demoya had the best opportunity for the Blue and Green as he ripped a shot at 116:49 that hit the cross bar. Three minutes later the Raiders scored with 24.8 seconds remaining in the game. Freshman Greg Freiman (Hampton, Conn.) was able to get one passed Peluso to come out with the win.
Coach Calabrese reflects on the game saying, "Rivier played with a great amount of heart and passion tonight. They deserved to win the match. On the flip side our guys have created some great scoring chances in our first three matches. We need to elevate our level of concentration around the goal and finish easy chances. We could be sitting on a 3-0 record but reality is we are 1-2."
The Blue and Green will pick back up on Saturday for a North Shore Cup matchup at Salem State at 12:00 PM. The last time the two met the Gulls came out on top with a 1-0 win, and added points to the eventual Endicott College victory of the North Shore Cup.
