BEVERLY, Mass. – Senior Melissa Enright (York Beach, Maine) scored twice in the second half Saturday afternoon to help Endicott hold off Nichols College 3-1 and claim the top spot in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) field hockey standings.
In a battle between teams with identical records, Endicott pushes their CCC mark to 4-0 and their overall record to 8-3, while the visiting Bison suffer their first conference defeat.
Stacie Teevens (Southborough, Mass.) tallied her third goal of the season, the only points of the first half, and Endicott senior goalkeeper Taylor Texeira (Exeter, N.H.) made five saves in the victory.
Enright knocked in her first marker of the day just under five minutes after halftime to give Endicott a 2-0 edge, but that comfort lasted less than two minutes as Nichols pulled the goal right back.
Senior Emily Widdison (Greenfield, Mass.) brought the ball into the Nichols attacking zone and found sophomore Kaylee McNamara (Watertown, Mass.), who finished for her fourth goal of the season. Widdison, the team leader in points, picked up her fifth assist and now has 37 points on the season for the Bison.
Shots and penalty corners were abundant for both teams, who each held possession for pockets of each half. The Bison held a slim 17-16 advantage in shots when the final whistle blew, though Endicott put ten of their chances on frame to challenge Nichols sophomore goalie Molly Melanson (Simsbury, Conn.).
Enright tallied her second of the day with just over eight minutes remaining. The senior forward now has ten goals on the season, which puts her second on the Gull's scoring sheet.
Melanson made six saves in the game and was helped by a defensive save by freshman Meghan Dombkowski (Sagaponackk, N.Y.).
The Gulls will hit the road for their next two games, starting on Monday with a 7:00 pm contest in Springfield against Western New England.
Nichols will face another tough conference test in their next match, when they travel to Biddeford, Maine for a Tuesday afternoon game against the University of New England.
