March 21, 2009
BEVERLY, Mass. - Endicott College women's lacrosse attacker Valerie Feldman (Albany, N.Y.) scored four goals and handed out an assist as the Gulls held off a late rally from New England College, defeating the Pilgrims, 15-8, in each team's TCCC opener on Saturday afternoon. Endicott improves to 3-2 (1-0 TCCC) while NEC drops to 0-3 (0-1 TCCC).
The Gulls came out firing to start the game as they scored the first five goals of the contest to take a 5-0 lead. Sara Gunter (Kennebunk, Maine) and Carin Czerniawski (Monroe, Conn.) each scored a pair of goals in the run to start the game. Gunter bounced home a pair of free position shots while Czerniawski scored on a free position of her own as well as taking a draw control coast-to-coast for the tally. Feldman scored her first goal of the contest during the 5-0 run as well.
The Pilgrims' Amanda Naime (York, Maine) would score the first goal for NEC as she connected on a bounce shot from 15 yards out to cut the deficit to 5-1. The Gulls would respond with another 4-0 run however as Rebecca Bushnell (Guilford, Conn.) scored three-consecutive goals to build an 8-1 lead. Alex Pearce (Underhill, Vt.) scored on a free position shot to cap-off the run to give the Gulls the 9-1 advantage.
After an NEC goal by Brandi Vittum (Reading, Vt.), Endicott's Pearce, Feldman, and Molly Sowles (Cumberland, Maine) would each score a goal before the end of the half to extend Endicott's lead to 12-2 heading into the intermission. The Gulls outshot the Pilgrims 30-7 in the frame while also holding a major edge in ground balls (35-14) and draw controls (13-2).
Feldman came out of the half and quickly recorded her third goal of the game off a pass from Alex Pearce. Brandi Vittum would score for the second time for the Pilgrims off a pass from Jodie Dresser (Keene, N.H.) as the Gulls continued to hang onto their 10-goal lead, 13-3.
Feldman converted on another free-position shot before the Pilgrims went on to score five unanswered goals. Emily Tanguay (Manchester, N.H.) scored four of the five goals as Dresser chipped in with one of her own, slicing into the Endicott lead, 14-8. That would be as close as NEC would get as Kristen Micho (Syracuse, N.Y.) added an insurance goal in the closing minutes for the Gulls to leave Endicott with the 15-8 win.
NEC outshot the Gulls in the second half 20-17 but were still outshot in the contest, 47-27. For the game, the Gulls dominated in both ground balls (49-27) and draw controls (19-6). The Pilgrims however held the edge in clears as they went 15-for-27 compared to 13-for-26 for the Gulls.
Endicott had seven players record a goal while six players picked up an assist. Pearce, Gunter, and Czerniawski each had a pair of goals to go along with an assist while Rebecca Bushnell scored three goals for the Gulls. Molly Hamel (North Yarmouth, Maine) picked up her third win of the season as she made six saves in just over 40 minutes of action.
Alexandra DiRico (Limerick, Pa.) took the loss for the Pilgrims while making 26 saves. Tanguay led the way for NEC as she had four goals while Dresser had a goal and three helpers.
Endicott returns to action on Wednesday when it travels to cross-town rival Gordon College for a TCCC matchup scheduled for 7:00 p.m. NEC returns home looking for its first win of the season as the Pilgrims will face Roger Williams University on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m.
