Early Overtime Goal Lifts Gulls Over Wentworth

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's soccer team played host to CCC opponent Wentworth on Saturday afternoon. Both frames were scoreless for both sides, forcing an overtime period. Endicott's freshman Edwin Demoya (Salem, Mass.) scored 25 seconds into the overtime to give the Gulls their second conference win of the season. The Gulls now stand at 5-5, (2-1 CCC) while the Leopards move to 1-8, (1-2 CCC).

The first half was split for both teams as they both got off eight shots during the frame. At 26:23 Endicott had a perfect opportunity to get a tally on the board when junior Abdulla Al Khalifa (Riffa, Bahrain) took a corner kick and sent it across cage where sophomore Kyle Bisceglia was able to get a header on it but it bounced off the cross bar and went out of bounds.

The rest of the half was pretty quiet for both sides, but the Gulls controlled the ball in transition and worked hard in the final third to create opportunities, being awarded four corner kicks. Defensively the unit was strong led by junior Jed Magnusson (Kingston, N.H.), sophomore Michael DiTommaso (Farmington, Conn.) and senior Zach Mullane (Westfield, Mass.). Sophomore goalkeeper Austin Peluso (Farmington, Conn.) came up big in the frame making four saves to keep the Leopards off the board to enter halftime.

The second half was controlled by the Gulls as they outshot the Leopards 12-4. The Blue and Green were strong offensively with key efforts from junior Alex Jorge (Billerica, Mass.), sophomore Zach Rizzo and Bisceglia. Jorge was solid in the box having two shots, but also creating big plays and scoring opportunities. Bisceglia came up from the defensive end throughout the game and took six shots.

Defensively for the Leopards freshman Jon Keys was a force on the back line stopping Demoya and Jorge from making a run at goal all game. Freshman goalkeeper Chase Richard (Smithfield, R.I.) made three stops on the frame to keep the Gulls off the board.  

As both teams worked hard on all parts of the field, the second frame ended in a stalemate and forced the game into overtime. Endicott has now gone into an overtime period seven times this season and is used to rallying late in the game.

Extra time ended almost as fast as it started only going 25 seconds. Sebastian Rozo started the play off for the Gulls in the middle at the 50 and blasted a pass to Demoya who dribbled a bit up the left side and found himself ahead of the defense with only Richard standing in his way, he went for the kick and drilled it into the top left post to leave the Gulls victorious.

The Blue and Green will look to Tuesday, October 1^st when they host UMass Dartmouth under the lights at 7:00 PM. The meeting will be the first between the two squads since 2008 when the Corsairs got the best of the Gulls defeating them 1-0. The Leopards host Lesley on Wednesday October 2^nd for a 7:00 PM non-conference match.