BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's soccer team hosted conference opponent Western New England on Saturday for a homecoming matchup under the lights. Despite the Gulls hard work in the final third the Golden Bears were able to score a late goal in the second frame to take the 1-0 victory. The Blue and Green now stand at 6-6, (2-2 CCC), while the Golden Bears move to 8-3-1, (3-1 CCC).
The Gulls came out firing in the first frame controlling the play and taking seven shots, and holding WNEU to four. The Gulls started shooting early when sophomore Sebastian Rozo (Stamford, Conn.) blasted a shot in Golden Bear territory in the opening two minutes but senior goalkeeper Domenick Villano (Bronxville, N.Y.) was able to come up with the save. Only a minute later senior Alex Elia (Somers, Conn.) took a great penalty kick that went just wide.
At 26:02 the Gulls were again, just shy of getting a tally on the board when junior Abdulla Al Khalifa (Riffa, Bahrain) ripped a shot in front of the net to the left post but a Golden Bears defender was able to come out of nowhere and block the shot out of play.
Moments later WNEU had an opportunity of their own when senior Ryan Williams (Brewster, N.Y.) sent a shot in the 18, but sophomore goalkeeper Austin Peluso (Farmington, Conn.) was able to make the save and send both teams into halftime at a stalemate.
The Blue and Green picked back up where they left off in the first, firing shots throughout the entire second frame. Endicott led the half in shots 14-7 while also gaining four corner kick opportunities. At 53:19 Al Khalifa had another shot at getting the Gulls on the board when he connected with a pass and went for the header but the ball just skimmed the cross-bar and went high. 30 seconds later sophomore Kyle Bisceglia (New Boston, N.H.) blasted a shot to the top left corner but Villano was able to reach and make the punching save to keep the Blue and Green off the board.
Elia was hungry for more as he kept working hard in the final third at 56:21 he controlled the ball right in front of the net and sent it towards the goal and forced Villano to make the impressive diving save.
The Golden Bears finally got into dangerous Gull territory and created a couple opportunities that led to the goal. At 76:39 Williams took advantage of open space in the 18 and sent a shot into the back of the net to take the lead.
The goal did not discourage Endicott, it only made them hungry for redemption. At 73: 02 junior Jed Magnusson (Kingston, N.H.) sent an incredible shot from deep in the final third that just sailed high and right of the top corner. Nine minutes later Elia tried again for a tally as he caught Villano off his angle and blasted a shot from inside the 15 but Villano was able to come up with the save.
In the final seconds of the game Endicott had one last chance to tie the game up. After being awarded numerous fouls, that moved the Gulls up the field, junior Connor Gibbs (Westborough, Mass.) controlled the ball from a nice pass to the left and took the shot but the ball hit the cross-bar and bounced back down but just missed the goal line. The buzzer sounded and the Golden Bears took the 1-0 victory.
The Gulls will look ahead to Wednesday, October 9th where they host out of conference opponent Saint Joseph's (Me.) for a 6:00 p.m. start. Western New England will look ahead to Tuesday where they host Worcester State in a non-conference pairing for a 4:00 p.m. start.
