BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott field hockey team hosted Nichols on Tuesday night for a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) matchup. With a six point effort by junior Ashleigh Allen (Glastonbury, Conn.) the Gulls soared to a 6-1 victory. Endicott improves to 15-3 (9-2 CCC) while the Bison fall to 3-14 (1-10 CCC).
Endicott will see the field next on Saturday, November 1st as they host cross-town rival, Gordon at 11:00 a.m. for the final game of the regular season. The Gull will also take the time to celebrate their nine seniors for senior day. The Bison will also see the field next on Saturday as they host Salve Regina for a CCC showdown at 11:00 a.m.
The first half was controlled by the Blue and Green as they outshot the Bison 19-4 while earning five penalty corners. The Bison gave the Gulls an early scare after junior Meghan Dombkowski (Sagaponack, N.Y.) ripped a shot from the top of the circle off a corner play that found the back of the net to give Nichols a 1-0 lead.
The Gulls answered back seven minutes later after freshman Maggie Layo (Sandwich, Mass.) controlled a feed from senior Meghan Leary (Hampton Falls, N.H.) and tallied the game tying goal to mark her second of the season. Less than one minute later senior Emily Sawchuck (Cumberland, Maine) tallied the game winner after she beat two Bison defenders and caught senior goalkeeper Molly Melanson (Simsbury, Conn.) off her angle to make it a 2-1 score entering halftime.
The second half was again controlled by the Blue and Green as they outshot the Bison 17-2 while earning eight penalty corners to Nichols one. 10 minutes into the half Sawchuck netted her 20th goal of the season after Allen lifted the ball into the air and Sawchuck batted the ball into the back of the net for the 3-1 lead.
Three minutes later, Allen was hungry for her first goal of the game after she marched the ball in from the top of the circle all the way through the goal line for the three goal advantage. At the 49 minute mark Layo would tally her second goal of the game and her third of the season after she controlled a crisp pass from Allen and tipped the ball into the back of the net.
At the 54 minute mark the Blue and Green would tally their final goal of the game as the Bison defender stopped the ball on the goal line with a body part to force a penalty stroke. Allen stepped up to the stroke mark and easily found the back of the net as she tallied her ninth goal of the season. Allen is now 4-4 on penalty strokes thus far in 2014.
Endicott would continue to pepper the Nichols defense, forcing Melanson to make some incredible saves and one on one break-ups. However, the five goal advantage would be all the Blue and Green needed as they secured the second win of the season over the Bison with the 6-1 final.
Sophomore goalkeeper, Checka Ventura (Lawrence, Mass.) finished the night with two saves while her counterpart, Melanson made an impressive 21 stops on the night.
