SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Endicott women's lacrosse team traveled to Western New England on Saturday afternoon for a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) matchup. Despite the six points from senior Ellie Clayman (Beverly, Mass.) the Gulls fell in a tough 15-12 battle. Endicott falls to 9-5 (5-2 CCC) while the Golden Bears improve to 13-2 (7-0 CCC).
Endicott will take the field next on Wednesday, April 22nd as they host Curry for a 7:00 p.m. matchup. Prior to the first draw, the Gulls will celebrate their senior class for Senior Night. Western New England will also take the field on Saturday as they travel to Wentworth for their final regular season matchup before the CCC tournament.
Coming in behind the six point effort from Clayman, senior Kirsten Thor (Longmeadow, Mass.) followed with two goals and one assist while sophomore Emily Whitney posted one goal and three assists. On the defensive end sophomore Maura Grady (Marblehead, Mass.) made six saves in the tough loss. Her counterpart, senior Emily Castleman (Wilbraham, Mass.) made an impressive 20 saves in the victory.
The first half was battle as the Golden Bears just took the 7-4 advantage. Clayman made a combo play to goal with Whitney in the opening minutes to take the early lead. Five minutes later Western New England answered back with three straight goals for the 3-1 score.
Clayman would tally her second consecutive goal for the Gulls on a free position shot to get back within one. However, the Golden Bears quickly responded with another three straight goals in seven minutes. Clayman would again find the back of the net with 3:05 remaining in the first half for her third straight goal of the game on another free position shot to make it a three goal game. Western New England's Jessica Scannapieco (Blue Bell, Pa.) would respond with her second goal of the day for Western New England before Clayman would finish the half with her fourth of the day on a free position shot.
In the second half, Scannapieco opened up with back to back goals with the help of senior Kaitlynn Stevens (Stratford, Conn.) for the four goal lead.
Whitney would break the ice in the half with her first and lone goal of the game on an unassisted play at the 22:18 mark. The Golden Bears would tally one more goal before Endicott went on a short scoring spree with three straight goals. Thor started the spree with the help of Whitney while freshman Erin McCarthy (Old Lyme, Conn.) recorded her first goal of the day with the help of Thor before Clayman followed with her fifth and final goal of the day.
Western New England would quickly counter back with three straight goals of their own to kick the lead back up to 13-8 with 13:06 remaining in regulation. Senior Siri Mason (Williamstown, Mass.) and sophomore Emily Cutting (Ferrisburgh, Vt.) would snap the spree with back to back goals to get within three at the 11 minute mark.
Again, the Golden Bears would not let the Gulls come too close as they scored back to back goals to finish the scoring for Western New England and the 15-10 lead.
Thor and sophomore Meghan Lennon (Canton, Mass.) finished the game with a pair of goals but it would not be enough as the Golden Bears secured the 15-12 victory.
