BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's soccer team hosted Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) opponent, the University of New England on Saturday evening. Juniors Diego Slobotzky (Mexico City, Mexico) and Shintaroh Itoh (Tokyo, Japan) each notched goals for the Gulls to secure the 2-0 victory. Endicott improves to 3-3-0 (1-0-0 CCC) while the Nor'easters suffer their first loss at 2-1-1 (0-1-0 CCC).
Endicott will follow their three straight wins into next week when they will travel to Nichols on Friday, September 19th for a CCC matchup. UNE will see action next on Wednesday, September 17th as they host non-conference opponent, Saint Joseph's (Maine).
The first half was controlled by the Gulls as they outshot their conference opponents 8-4. The Blue and Green were working the final third with huge efforts by junior midfielder, Itoh, junior striker, Abdulla Al Khalifa (Riffa, Bahrain) and freshman, Brendan McLaughlin (Colchester, Conn.).
After peppering the Nor'easter defense and senior goalkeeper Aidan McParland (Brockville, Ontario) for most of the first half the Gulls earned a 1-0 lead at the 33rd minute. Slobotzky came in off the bench and received a crisp feed from junior Kyle Bisceglia (New Boston, N.H.), made a quick move around two Nor'easter defenders and blasted the ball into the lower right corner.
Endicott continued to work the offensive end but UNE had some opportunities of their own in the final third forcing senior goalkeeper, Alex Jorge (Billerica, Mass.) to break up some big plays to keep the Nor'easters off the board to end the half with a one goal advantage.
The second half was a battle as both sides had very impressive opportunities to get tallies on the board. Endicott just outshot their opponents 12-9 but managed to keep the Nor'easters scoreless for the remaining 45 minutes of play.
In the 56th minute UNE gave the Blue and Green a scare as junior Tyker Garnick (Derry, N.H.) ripped a break-away shot at goal but slammed the post to lose the opportunity. Three minutes later the Nor'easters had another huge opportunity as freshman Darius Ntacyo (Saco, Maine) made a quick move to beat Jorge, but Jorge would not back down as he sprinted to his post to force a wide shot.
In the 69th minute senior Zach Rizzo (Redding, Conn.) was working the ball just outside the box on the right and dished a pass into the middle where Itoh was waiting and blasted a straight shot into the back of the net to nail his first goal in a Blue and Green uniform.
With the Gulls leading 2-0, UNE was on high pressure to catch the Gulls. With six minutes remaining in regulation, UNE junior, Will Bushey (South Portland, Maine) headed the ball off a corner kick but Jorge was able to jump in and make the impressive save.
In the final minutes the Nor'easters had one more big opportunity to earn a goal after senior Anthony Frangione (Barnstead, N.H.) picked up a rebound in front and ripped a shot to goal but Jorge was able to make the diving stop the secure the 2-0 shutout victory.
Jorge walked away with one of his most impressive games of the season with three big stops while his counterpart McParland, made five.
