BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's soccer team hosted Commonwealth Coast Conference opponent Roger Williams on Saturday afternoon for homecoming. After a scoreless first half by both sides and an intense second half, senior Andrew Carlson (Ridgefield, Conn.) earned a late goal in the 80th minute for Roger Williams to secure the victory. Endicott drops their first game since September 3rd as they fall to 4-4-1 (1-1-1 CCC) while the Hawks improve to 5-4-1 (2-1-0 CCC).
Endicott will see action next on Tuesday, September 30th when they travel to non-conference opponent UMass. Dartmouth for a 7:00 p.m. matchup. Roger Williams will play next on October 4th, as they travel to Nichols for a CCC showdown at 2:00 p.m.
The first half was a battle as both sides worked hard in their respective zones. The Blue and Green forced many opportunities in the final third as they outshot the Hawks 11-3 while earning three more corner kicks.
For the Gulls junior, striker, Diego Slobotzky (Mexico City, Mexico) was hungry for his fifth goal of the season as he led the half in shots with three. Freshman Connor Couchot (Mason, Ohio) and Brendan McLaughlin (Colchester, Conn.) followed suit as they each ripped two shots to work the Endicott offense.
After pushing for a solid 45 minutes of play the first half ended in a stalemate.
The second half showed an even hungrier group of Gulls as they just outshot their opponent 7-6 but the quality of their attempts only got better. Slobotzky took another three shots in the half having some close opportunities, one that senior goalkeeper Tom Mangels (Garden City, N.Y.) was able to stop in the opening minutes and another that just sailed wide to the right.
After the Blue and Green continued to control the tempo of the game for 35 minutes Roger Williams worked down the field on attack. Freshman Kabine Conde (Philadelphia, Pa.) sent a ball across the box from the right where Carlson was able to dive up and send a solid header into the back of the net to take the 1-0 lead.
With 10 minutes to go and down by one Endicott went full force taking four big shots in the final minutes. Freshman Thomas Martin (Derry, N.H.) had a huge opportunity to counter back in the 82nd minute after he sent a crisp header to goal but it just sailed high.
Despite their efforts the Gulls fell to the Hawks in a tough one goal battle. Senior goalkeeper Alex Jorge (Billerica, Mass.) made some great saves on the afternoon walking away with three while Mangles stopped four.
