BEVERLY — The Endicott College women’s hockey team is shipping up to the NCAA tournament. Again.
Ranked No. 8 in the country in Division 3, the Gulls celebrated Saturday’s victory in the inaugural Commonwealth Coast Conference championship game by blasting some Dropkick Murphys in the locker room and dumping Gatorade on head coach Andy McPhee.
Endicott will learn its seed and draw for the national playoffs Sunday night at 8:30 p.m., and until then has some time to reflect on a remarkable season that delivered a third straight conference championship (Endicott won the Colonial Hockey Conference in 2019 and 2020 and the league rebranded as the CCC this winter).
“For our four seniors, the conference final is the only thing they’ve ever known,” said McPhee, who has guided Endicott to a conference final in all six of his full seasons at the helm. “I’m so happy for those four young women because they’ve been through a lot. We’ve been very lucky to have such great leaders.”
In front of a packed house Saturday at Bourque Arena, Endicott (19-4-1) held off visiting University of New England, 2-1. The Gulls had a two-goal lead going into the final period, but UNE converted a breakaway chance with just over 11 minutes to go.
With defense being its bread and butter, Endicott dug in and held the Nor’Easters at bay as they pressed for the tying goal.
“We’ve been in a lot of tight games and we’ve practiced those situations,” said senior center Courtney Sullivan. “The biggest thing is don’t get caught running around.”
The disciplined Gulls also leaned on junior goalie Michaela O’Brien, who made 12 of her 21 saves in the third period. Tremendous backchecking plus solid D from blue liners Mady Hentosh of Peabody, Jenna Seibold, Autota Devereaux and Nicole Connor helped O’Brien see the puck and play her angles well.
“Sometimes our goalies don’t get a lot of action, and when they’re called on it’s usually a really good scoring chance,” said McPhee, whose team had a 31-10 edge in shots after two periods. “They stay in it and they make those saves.”
Carrying play over the first half of the game and unable to get the lead, Endicott finally broke through on its 28th shot of the night. On the power play, senior Tabitha Franceschini freed the puck on a goalmouth scramble and got it over to classmate Jacy Kuhlman for the finish and the satisfying 1-0 lead.
“We had to keep doing the little things every shift: Building up the play, possessing the puck, playing our system right,” said Franceschini. “As long as we were doing that we know the goals would come.”
Just before the second intermission, junior Kellie Popkin doubled the lead assisted by freshman Samantha Fantasia to put Endicott, winners of eight straight, in control.
“We knew UNE’s a really tough team that’s going to battle hard but we also stayed confident the whole time,” Franceschini said. “We relied on each other and I think that’s what helps us the most.”
Maeve Crehan roofed a breakaway shot by O’Brien at 8:15 of the third to tighten things up. Endicott successfully killed off a UNE power play after that and tested Nor’Easter goalie Delanie Corcoran (37 saves) with a couple of 2-on-1 chances as they tried to extend the lead.
Two years ago, the Gulls were 25-2 and ready to chase a national title when COVID-19 shutdown sports and cancelled the NCAA tournament. As freshmen, the squad’s seniors lost their NCAA tourney debut in overtime and there were no playoffs in their junior year of 2021, either.
Closing out their senior year with another league title and finally getting a chance to compete on the national stage again is something they’ve looked forward to for a long time — and hope to take advantage of.
“When COVID happened we were ready to go, and all felt pretty devastated that we couldn’t go out and prove ourselves,” said Sullivan, the team’s active career scoring leader with 71 points. “We want to show how good this conference and this team is. We’re looking forward to it.”
Endicott 2, University of New England 1
Commonwealth Coast Conference championship at Bourque Arena, Beverly
UNE 0 0 1 1
Endicott 0 2 0 2
Scoring Summary
First period: No scoring.
Second period: E, Jacy Kuhlman (Tabitha Franceschini, Quin Healy), ppg, 13:30; E, Kellie Popkin (Samantha Fastasia), 18:25.
Third period: UNE, Maeve Crehan (Caroyln Curley, Jenna Pych), 8:15.
Saves: UNE, Delanie Corcoran 37; E, Michaela O’Brien 21.
Records: UNE, 11-13-2; E, 19-4-1.
