WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Endicott men's soccer team traveled to non-conference opponent Williams on Sunday afternoon. After 109 minutes of play senior Zach Grady (East Bridgewater, Mass.) tallied the game winner to lift the Ephs to a 1-0 victory over the Gulls. Senior Alex Jorge (Billerica, Mass.) posted a strong contest between the pipes for Endicott making six saves in the hard fought match. Endicott falls to 5-6-1 (1-2-1 CCC) while the Ephs improve to 5-4-1 (3-2 NESCAC).
Endicott will see action next on Wednesday, October 8th as they host Westfield State for a 7:00 p.m. matchup. Head coach, Joe Calabrese has coached the Gulls to two straight victories over his alma mater. Williams will take the field next on October 11th when they host NESCAC opponent Wesleyan (Conn.) for a noon time start.
The first half was a battle as they Gulls held strong on the defensive end facing 10 Williams shots. The backline of senior Jed Magnusson (Kingston, N.H.), junior Kyle Bisceglia (New Boston, N.H.), freshman Carter Ocko (Danvers, Mass.) and sophomore Ryan Cohane (Easton, Conn.) held strong to protect Jorge who made three saves in the half.
In the opening minutes the Ephs started peppering the Endicott defense early earning three corner kicks but the Blue and Green did not allow Williams to capitalize on the plays. In the eighth minute junior Shintaroh Itoh (Tokyo, Japan) almost got a tally on the board for the Gulls after the blasted a shot on goal that just hit the post.
Following Itoh's lead, junior Diego Slobotzky (Mexico City, Mexico) also worked hard in the final third as he took a couple shots that just sailed wide. In the final minutes of the first half the Ephs put pressure on Jorge forcing the goalkeeper to make two big stops to keep the score at an even nil to enter halftime.
The second have was just as exciting as the first as the Blue and Green held Williams to just seven shots while Jorge made three more big saves.
In the opening minutes of the half Williams had their chance at a goal after senior Matt Muralles (Weston, Fla.) blasted a shot at goal that hit the post. Sophomore JC Bahr-de-Stefano (Manhattan, N.Y.) kept the play dangerous after he controlled the rebound off the post and attempted to head the ball into the back of the net but Jorge came up big and made the stop to keep the game scoreless.
On the attack in the 56th minute Endicott had their third big chance at a goal after sophomore Brian Blanchard (Hingham, Mass.) sent a header in of his own but sophomore goalkeeper Christian Alcorn (Richmond, Va.) was able to make the stop.
In the final minutes of the second half the Ephs put high pressure on the Blue and Green taking two big shots the first of which Jorge stopped and the second where Itoh was able to jump in and make the defensive save to keep the game at a stalemate and force extra time.
In the first set of extra time Williams took four shots but just one made it to goal where Jorge was able to keep the game rolling with another huge save. In the second period of extra time both sides ripped two shots before the game winner was found with 24 seconds remaining in the game. Grady received a feed from senior Michael Madding (Hillsborough, Calif.) and found the back of the net for his first goal of the season.
Endicott played a hard fought match with Williams as the game marked the first matchup in program history with the non-conference opponent. Endicott will compete with one more non-conference opponent on the season before heading deep into Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) competition.
