March 7, 2008
BEVERLY, Mass. - The 16th ranked Endicott College men's lacrosse team pumped in 22 goals on a windy Friday afternoon, as the Gulls won their The Commonwealth Coast Conference opener, 22-5, at Endicott Stadium in Beverly, Massachusetts. The win improves Endicott to 3-0 overall (1-0 TCCC), while Wentworth dips to 0-1 (0-1 TCCC).
John Curtis (Chelmsford, Mass.) put the Gulls on the board first as he notched a man-up goal - Endicott's first of six on the man advantage - just 2:30 into the contest. Curtis struck again just two minutes later as he took a feed from Brandon Dube (Danvers, Mass.) and beat Wentworth goaltender Nick Murphy (Cohasset, Mass.) to give the Gulls an early two-goal cushion.
Wentworth was able to hang around in the first quarter as Chris Wesche (Holden, Mass.) found the back of the net from 15-yards out with 3:07 remaining, cutting the Endicott lead to 3-1 after one.
In the second, the Gulls began to distance themselves from the Leopards as the Blue and Green used a four-goal spurt, including a tally from Dube with three-seconds left in the half to give Endicott a 7-1 lead at the intermission.
The Gulls opened the third quarter with an unassisted man-up goal from Nick Cosco (Londonderry, N.H.), followed by consecutive scores from Brad Lipkvich (Madison, Conn.) and Dan Cain (Billerica, Mass.). Wentworth responded with a mini-run of its own as Stephen Biszko (Tiverton, R.I.) scored a pair of goals with a Matt Cox (Granger, Ind.) tally sandwiched in between, making the score 10-4 Endicott.
The Gulls ran away with the game in the fourth as the Blue and Green found the back of the net nine times, including two man-up goals and a man-down strike. Endicott made Wentworth pay with the man-advantage, as the Gulls went 6-for-7 with the extra attacker.
Endicott was paced by Brandon Dube's three goals and game-high seven assists. Nick Cosco closed out the afternoon with four goals and a helper, while Eddie O'Reilly notched three goals and an assist in the winning effort. Dan Cain and Philip Carr (Malden, Mass.) had three and two goals, respectively. John Ortolani (Billerica, Mass.) went 15-of-17 from the face-off X and scooped up a game-high 11 ground balls.
Wentworth's Stephen Bizko and Matt Cox each ended the day with two goals apiece. Senior goaltender Nick Murphy made 11 saves before giving way to sophomore Sean Tobin, who turned away three shots in seven minutes of action.
Endicott retakes the field on Monday afternoon as they play host to fifth-ranked Wesleyan University. The Gulls have never beaten the Cardinals and Monday's showdown will be the first top-20 game of the year for the Blue and Green. Wentworth does not return to action until March 20, when they take the road to meet Mass. Maritime at 6:00 p.m.
