BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's soccer team hosted North Shore Cup opponent Salem State on Saturday afternoon for a non-conference matchup. The Gulls rallied in the 90 minutes compiling four goals, led by junior striker, Diego Slobotzky (Mexico City, Mexico) who tallied a goal and an assist in the 4-0 triumph. Endicott earned their first victory of the season today improving to 1-3 (0-0 CCC) while the Vikings fall to 0-2 (0-0 MASCAC).
The Blue and Green will be back at it tomorrow as they travel to Saint Joseph's (Maine) for a 2:00 p.m. start time while Salem State will see action next on Wednesday, September 10th as they travel to conference opponent Plymouth State.
The first half was a battle as the Gulls outshot the Vikings 12-9 but the Blue and Green had more fire as they forced seven corner kicks to their opponent's one. After battling for 27 minutes Endicott got on the board first as senior Connor Gibbs (Westborough, Mass.) tallied his first goal of the season after Slobotzky and freshman Brendan McLaughlin (Colchester, Conn.) made a great combo play to goal. McLaughlin started with the ball on a throw in and dished it to Slobotzky on the left post who then fed Gibbs the ball for the 1-0 lead.
Less than one minute later the Blue and Green were back at it as junior Spencer Fletcher (Middletown, Conn.) followed with his first goal of the season off a feed from McLaughlin on the left post. With 10 minutes remaining in the first 45 minutes of play Slobotzky was eager for his first goal of the season as well, as he placed himself in front of the goal after junior Kyle Bisceglia (New Boston, N.H.) ripped a shot that deflected off the goalkeeper where Slobotzky was able to grab the rebound and find the back of the net to close out the half with a 3-0 advantage.
Salem State worked their offensive pressure with their nine shots and forcing two saves by senior goalkeeper Alex Jorge (Billerica, Mass.). However the solid Endicott defensive line of freshman Carter Ocko (Danvers, Mass.), sophomore Ryan Cohane (Easton, Conn.) and senior, captain, Jed Magnusson (Kingston, N.H.) made it impossible for the Vikings to capitalize in the final third.
In the second half the Gulls came out on fire controlling the entire 45 minutes of play outshooting their opponents 11-2 while earning five corner kicks to the Vikings zero. 10 minutes into the second half junior striker, Zach Rizzo (Redding, Conn.) tallied his second goal of the season after he blasted a shot deep in the final third and struck the top right corner to make it a four goal game.
The goal would be the last for Endicott despite their efforts in the remaining minutes peppering Salem State goalkeeper Nondas Kargakis (Herkalion, Greece) forcing him to make two big saves to keep the score at 4-0.
Endicott has now defeated the North Shore rivals for three straight seasons after a seven season drought. Jorge walked away with two saves while his counterpart went home with eight
