GORHAM, Maine – The Endicott women's lacrosse team traveled to Southern Maine on Thursday evening for a non-conference matchup. Freshman Emily Whitney (Rye, N.H.) scored four goals followed by three from senior Callie Murphy (Woburn, Mass.) to help lead the Gulls to an 11-9 triumph over the Huskies. Endicott improves to 9-1 (4-0 CCC) and increases their winning streak to seven while Southern Maine falls to 2-5 (0-1 LEC).
The first half was a possession battle that ended the half in Huskies favor 5-4. In the opening minutes juniors Katie Tierney (South Hadley, Mass.) and Ellie Clayman (Beverly, Mass.) started the scoring early for the Gulls. The pair both notched unassisted goals to take the early 2-0 lead.
Ten minutes later Southern Maine fought back scoring three straight goals in six minutes to take a one goal lead. The first two came from senior Jacki Kelly (Brunswick, Maine) followed by sophomore Anh Nguyen (South Portland, Maine) both on free position shots. At 10:28 a man up opportunity for the Huskies brought in the game leading goal by senior Rosie Forster (Andover, Mass.).
With just under eight minutes remaining in the first half junior Callie Murphy (Woburn, Mass.) and junior Siri Mason (Williamstown, Mass.) made a nice combo play to goal to make it a tied game. The Huskies would not silence as they answered right back to two straight goals and in the final seconds rookie standouts Whitney and CCC Rookie of the Week Meghan Lennon (Canton, Mass.) worked to get back within one as Whitney scored with the assist given to Lennon to end the half.
The second half posed a stronger Gulls squad as they started out the half scoring three straight goals in three minutes. The first came from Murphy while Whitney took advantage of a man up opportunity and found the back of the net with help from Murphy to take a one goal edge. In the 23rd minute senior Rachel Campos (Shrewsbury, Mass.) tallied her first goal of the game on a free position shot to give the Blue and Green a two goal advantage.
The Huskies finally answered back at 23:07 as senior Shelby Turcotte (Lewiston, Maine) slipped the ball past senior goalkeeper Ryan Socolow (Westford, Mass.) to get back within one. With the lead cutting down Endicott picked up their pace as Murphy tallied her third goal of the game on a free position shot followed by a second goal by Campos with just over 18 minutes remaining in the game to take a 9-6 lead.
With 15:56 minutes remaining in regulation both sides battled for possession and went goal for goal. Southern Maine started with their second man up goal of the game but Whitney answered right back a minute later tallying her third goal of the game at the 14:50 mark. With four minutes to go sophomore Sarah Pelligrinelli (Southington, Conn.) and junior Laura Fay (Falmouth, Maine.) went for a combo play to score on a third man up opportunity to cut the Gulls lead down to two.
Whitney added an insurance goal with 1:56 on the clock while Turcotte attempted to get within reach with a final Huskies goal in the final seconds but it was not enough as Endicott pulled out with the victory.
Overall Whitney finished with four goals and a ground ball while Murphy tallied a hat trick followed by an assist and led with four draw controls. Campos and freshman Chelsea Burke (Georgetown, Mass.) worked hard on ground balls as Campos picked up five followed by four from Burke.
Endicott will see action next on Saturday, April 5th when they host Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) opponent Gordon at 12:00 p.m. at Endicott Stadium.
