April 29, 2006
BEVERLY, MA - Endicott College was a perfect 8-0 in conference play this spring and the Gulls remained untouched through the Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament, capturing their third straight CCC crown with a 16-11 victory over Gordon College Saturday afternoon at Endicott College.
The Gulls (14-4) will advance to their third straight NCAA Tournament after tying a school record for consecutive CCC titles with women's soccer and softball. Gordon wraps up its season at 11-4 overall.
Endicott scored the first four goals of the game, including two by junior Josh Gilbert (Simsbury, CT/Simsbury), who finished with a hat trick, and never looked back in hosting the CCC trophy. The Fighting Scots cut the lead to 11-6 at the half and scored the three of the last four goals in the game, but could never get the deficit below four goals at any point in the contest.
Senior midfielder Parker Sowles (Cumberland, ME/Kents Hill) led the way, scoring four goals and assisting on three others in the win. Senior Burt Fahy (Needham, MA/Needham) notched a hat trick and assisted on another while senior midfielder Kevin Lally (Derry, NH/Pinkerton Academy) scored once and added to his Endicott-career assist record with four helpers while junior middie Dan Ryan (Billerica, MA/Billerica) tallied two goals.
Eddie O'Reilly (Beverly, MA/Beverly), Patrick Gaffney (Worcester, MA/St. John's Shrewsbury) and Brandon Dube (Danvers, MA/Danvers) each notched a goal. Gaffney went the length of the field to score his first goal of the season with 45 seconds left in regulation, stopping a three-goal run by Gordon.
Gordon senior Matt Mercer (Salisbury, MD) had a career day for the visitors, totaling six goals in the loss. Sophomore longstick midfielder Phil Masterson (Hamilton, MA) scooped up 10 ground balls and dished out an assist for the Scots while Stephen Adams (Lawrenceville, NJ) added two goals and Matthew Hawkins (Oakland, CA), Michael Neumann (Fallston, MD) and Jon Harshaw (Newtown Square, PA) each scored once in the loss. Harshaw also handed out three helpers.
Sophomore faceoff man John Ortoloni (Billerica, MA/Billerica) and Gaffney controlled the ground for the Gulls, scooping up 10 ground balls apiece while senior longstick midfielder Mike Clifford (Wilbraham, MA/Minnechaug) also got in on the action, collecting eight ground balls.
Gull senior goalkeeper Ryan Walsh (Weymouth, MA/Weymouth) turned away 14 shots for the win while freshman Scots' goalkeeper Jeremy Collins (Sea Cliff, NY) made 20 stops in defeat.
