May 5, 2007
BEVERLY, MA - The Endicott College men's lacrosse team captured their fourth straight Commonwealth Coast Conference championship on Saturday afternoon as the Gulls trounced the Gordon College Fighting Scots in the CCC final by the score 17-3. With the win, Endicott earns an automatic berth into next week's NCAA Division III National Tournament.
Endicott, currently ranked 15th in the nation, got the game started in a hurry as the Blue and Green wasted no time putting points on the board. Endicott senior attackman Josh Gilbert (Simsbury, CT/Simsbury) found the back of net just a minute and half into the first quarter as he took a fast-break feed from Brandon Dube (Danvers, MA/Danvers) and beat Gordon goalkeeper Mike Kaminski (Monticello, MN/Monticello) for the early 1-0 lead. The Endicott offense fed off the early momentum as the home team buried the next four goals in a span of under three minutes to jump out in front 5-0.
Following a Fighting Scots timeout, Endicott goaltender Sean Kearney (Mahopac, NY/Mahopac) made one of his 14 saves as he shut the door on a coast-to-coast bid from Gordon long-stick midfielder Phil Masterson (South Hamilton, MA/Hamilton-Wenham) with a nifty right leg save. Endicott closed out first quarter with another strike from Dube as he took a pass from Taylor Wuenneman (Southington, CT/Avon Old Farms) off goal line extended to give the Gulls a 6-0 lead after one.
The Blue and Green kept rolling in the second quarter as the Gulls ride game showed their work ethic with a steal and easy empty net lay-in to go out in front by seven. Endicott ended the first half with three more tallies to make the score 10-0 at the break.
The second half was much of the same as the Gulls pushed their lead to 12 after goals from Eddie O'Reilly (Beverly, MA/Beverly) and Brad Lipkvich (Madison, CT/Avon Old Farms). Gordon finally erased the zero from their side of the board with a nice end-to-end run from Masterson who found Andrew Kirkaldy (Red Deer, Alberta, Canada) alone on the crease for a quick lay-in. Following the Fighting Scots tally, Endicott answered back with three more goals including a rip from defenseman Patrick Gaffney (Worcester, MA/St. John's) on a fast-break transition to put the Gulls up 15-1. Each team would score two more before all was said and done with Endicott taking the Conference title by the score a 17-3.
Endicott's Brandon Dube had a career afternoon as he scored six goals and handed out two assists for a game-high eight points. Back-to-back CCC Player of the Week Josh Gilbert finished the day with four goals and two helpers while Eddie O'Reilly tallied three goals and one assist in the win. Endicott now awaits the announcement of the 2007 NCAA Division III seeding brackets which take place live on Sunday evening at 9:00 PM on CSTV. Check back to www.ecgulls.com for all the latest on the Gulls first/second round opponent.
