BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's soccer team shut out the visiting UMass Dartmouth Corsairs, 3-0, in non-conference action Tuesday afternoon at Endicott Stadium as senior forward Diego Slobotzky (Mexico City, Mexico) registered his first career hat trick.
With the win, Endicott has posted six consecutive shutouts and improved to 7-1-1 (3-0-0 CCC), while UMass Dartmouth dropped to 4-3-1 overall and 0-1-1 in the Little East Conference.
The teams battled to a scoreless tie heading into halftime, though things were just heating up as Slobotzky netted his first goal of the game (unassisted) in the 56th minute on a ball shot from the far left side of the field that ricocheted off the right post and redirected itself past the diving goalkeeper.
Slobotzky struck again in the 69th minute on a low, bouncing cross from sophomore back/midfielder Brendan McLaughlin (Colchester, Conn.) that rolled into the back left of the net.
Celebration erupted on the field as senior forward Abdulla Al Khalifa (Riffa, Bahrain) one-touched a pass off of a throw in that Slobotzky elevated to the top right corner for his third goal of the game (fifth of the season) in the 87th minute to round out the scoring for the Gulls.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Slobotzky registered his first career hat trick the day after his birthday.
- The last time this feat occurred in Endicott men's soccer history was on Oct. 21, 2008 when Bryan Lee scored three in a 3-2 home win over UNE.
- McLaughlin has two assists on the season.
- Al Khalifa recorded his first assist of the season.
- Today's match saw junior goalkeeper Nick Weinstein (Trumbull, Conn.) post his seventh clean sheet of the season, (sixth consecutive).
- Weinstein has allowed just four goals on the season (fewest allowed by all CCC goalkeepers).
- Endicott has not allowed a goal in its last 555:43 of action (six-plus games).
- The Gulls extended their win streak to six games, their second-longest streak in program history (10 straight wins in 1998.)
- Endicott has outscored its opponents 16-0 in this winning span.
FOR THE FOES
- Freshman goalkeeper JP Rosa (Boston, Mass.) (1-1) made six saves for the Corsairs.
- The team recorded just three shots, their lowest total of the season.
NOTES
- Today's match saw the Gulls win their third straight match against UMass Dartmouth, though the Corsairs still hold the all-time series lead dating back prior to the 2001 season, 9-3-1.
- Today's home win was the Gulls' second career shutout vs. the Corsairs (1-0 on Oct. 1, 2013).
- Last season, the Gulls bested the Corsairs 3-2 in overtime on the road on Sept. 30, 2014.
WHAT'S NEXT
Endicott (7-1-1) welcomes the Eastern Nazarene Lions on Saturday, October 3 to Endicott Stadium to celebrate Homecoming Weekend and honor five seniors on Senior Day at 7:00 p.m.
UMass Dartmouth (4-3-1) hosts UMass Boston on Saturday, October 3 for a Little East Conference tilt at 1:00 p.m. For the latest on Endicott Athletics, follow the Gulls on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.