March 31, 2007
BEVERLY, MA - The Endicott College men's lacrosse team took a 10-0 halftime lead into the break and never looked back, as the Gulls cruised to a 17-1 Commonwealth Coast Conference victory over Nichols College Saturday afternoon. Endicott has now won five straight games.
Endicott jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead less than a minute into the game, as Dan Ryan (Billerica, MA/Billerica) scored one of his game-high four goals top shelf past Nichols goaltender Tim Taylor (Canton, MA/Canton) for the early Endicott advantage. Like clockwork, the Gulls proceeded to score once every three minutes for the remainder of the first quarter, holding a 6-0 lead after one.
The Gulls kept the pressure on in quarter number two as Eddie O'Reilly (Beverly, MA/Beverly) took a feed from Dan Ryan and found the back of the net, extending Endicott's lead to 7-0 just :57 into the second frame. Brandon Dube (Danvers, MA/Danvers) and CCC Co-Player of the Week Nick Cosco (Londonderry, NH/Londonderry) connected on back-to-back strikes less than a minute apart to put the Blue and Green up 9-0. O'Reilly rounded out the first half scoring on an unassisted tally as he swept to his right across the top of the box and left a rifle go past Taylor, putting the Gulls up 10-0 at the half.
Following a Dan Cain (Billerica, MA/Billerica) score the visitors broke the shutout bid on a nice feed to the crease from Sean Tarrant (Norwalk, CT/Brookfield) to goal scorer Harley Cole (Branford, CT/Branford), making the score 11-1. The Gulls closed out the contest with a 6-0 run over the final twenty minutes of action, taking the game 17-1.
Endicott was led by Dan Ryan's four goals and two assists. Eddie O'Reilly finished the afternoon with three goals while both Nick Cosco and Brandon Dube each netted two scores for the Blue and Green. Face-off specialist John Ortolani (Billerica, MA/Billerica) did his part at the midfield X, winning 12-of-the-13 face-offs he took. In all, the Gulls owned an 18-for-21 advantage in face-offs. Endicott goaltenders Eric Hagarty (Sudbury, MA/Kent School) and Nate Barry (Chestertown, MD/Gunston) combined for four saves in the win. Nichols' goaltender Tim Taylor made 19 saves in the losing effort.
With the win, Endicott improves their record to 6-1 and 2-0 in the CCC. The Gulls will remain in conference play on Tuesday evening, as they travel to Boston, MA to square-off with the Wentworth Institute of Technology. Face-off is scheduled for 7:00 PM.
