March 1, 2008
TROY, N.Y. - Behind five second-half points from junior Eddie O'Reilly (Beverly, Mass./Beverly), the 20th-ranked Endicott College men's lacrosse team defeated Rensselaer, 12-6, Saturday afternoon at Harkness Field. With the win, the Gulls improve to 2-0 on the year, while the Red Hawks fall to 0-1.
Trailing 6-3 early in the fourth quarter, RPI's Nick Billy (Redding, Conn./Noel Barlow) beat Gulls goalie Eric Hagarty (Sudbury, Mass./Kent School) low, to cut the lead to two at 6-4. Mike Sampson (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) picked up the assist.
Sampson then added an unassisted tally at 10:04 which pulled the Red Hawks to within a goal (6-5), but that was as close as they got as Endicott went on a 6-1 run.
O'Reilly got things started at 9:17 when he converted on the man-up off an assist from freshman John Curtis (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford). After another tally by O'Reilly with 4:35 remaining, RPI senior midfielder Alex MacDiarmid (New Hartford, N.Y./New Hartford) closed the gap to two (8-6) off an assist by junior Josh Secora (Evergreen, Colo./Golden), but the Gulls answered 44 seconds later.
Junior Nick Cosco (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) scored the first of his two goals, unassisted at 3:10. O'Reilly made it 10-6 just 52 seconds after that, before finishing the contest with assists on the final two scores.
O'Reilly finished with three goals and two assists while junior midfield Dan Cain (Billerica, Mass./Billerica) added three goals. Cosco chipped in with two goals and two assists and junior attack Brandon Dube (Danvers, Mass./Danvers) had two goals and an assist. Hagarty improved to 2-0 for the Gulls, stopping eight shots on the day.
For Rensselaer, Sampson and sophomore Devin Arnold (Buffalo, N.Y./Canisius) each had a goal and an assist. Four other players tallied a goal for the Red Hawks, which saw sophomore netminder Ryan DeJordy (Albany, N.Y./Columbia) post nine saves.
The Red Hawks are back in action this Wednesday, when they take on Eastern Connecticut State. Endicott will make its 2008 home debut on Friday afternoon as they open The Commonwealth Coast Conference play against Wentworth at 4:00 p.m.
