BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's soccer team played host to Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) opponent Nichols on Wednesday afternoon. Despite the 16 shots by the Gulls, they were not enough as the Bison were able to score two goals in the first frame to take the 2-0 win. Endicott now moves to 8-8-0, (3-4-0 CCC) while the Bison stand at 10-1-4, (5-1-1 CCC).
The first frame was a battle of both squads, the Bison just outshot the Gulls 8-6 but the Gulls worked hard in the final third. At 24:55 the Bison took the lead after they were awarded a free kick at the 25. Junior Michael Perry (Plainville, Mass.) stepped up to take the kick and sent the ball into the lower left corner to give Nichols the 1-0 advantage.
Minutes later sophomore Sebastian Rozo (Stamford, Conn.) tried to answer back as he ripped a shot at junior goalkeeper Jeremy Nash (West Springfield, Mass.) but the ball just sailed high to keep them off the board. At 29:05 Nichols worked sophomore goalkeeper Austin Peluso (Farmington, Conn.) as sophomore Tiaga Prazeres (West Hartford, Conn.) blasted a shot from about 15 yards out but Peluso was able to make the impressive save to keep it a one goal game.
Four minutes later senior Fred Willard (Webster, Mass.) took advantage of a defensive miscue by the Blue and Green and took a shot from about five yards out in front of the goal to give the Bison the 2-0 lead.
At 40:54 Peluso was contested again as freshman David Melanson (Simsbury, Conn.) sent a shot in dangerous territory in front of the net with his teammates ready to head the ball, but Peluso was able to jump up and punch the ball out of play to take the opportunity away from the Bison to enter halftime with a two goal deficit.
The second frame was similar to the first, as the Bison barely outshot the Gulls, 14-10. 15 minutes into the frame Nichols had a great opportunity to add another tally to the board as Prazeres took a point blank shot from the 10, but Peluso made the big save to keep his squad in the game.
Eight minutes later senior Bobby Durben (Stow, Mass.) worked hard in the final third to create a scoring opportunity, at 69:54 he came in near the end line with the ball and blasted a shot to the opposite corner but the ball just sailed wide.
In the final 10 minutes of play Endicott had five scoring opportunities, the first came from senior Alex Elia (Somers, Conn.) off a free kick as he ripped a shot at Nash from the 30 but Nash was able to make the save to keep the Gulls off the board. Five minutes later Durben tried again to find the top right corner, but the ball just went wide.
The final opportunity for the Gulls came at 86:59 when Durben sent a great cross ball to junior Abdulla Al Khalifa (Riffa, Bahrain) in the middle of the 18. Al Khalifa went up for the bicycle kick but the ball went high leaving the Gulls scoreless in the 2-0 defeat.
Endicott will look ahead to Saturday, October 26th when they head to CCC opponent the University of New England for a 2:30 matchup. The Bison will also look ahead to Saturday as they host conference opponent Eastern Nazarene at 11:00 a.m.
