Beverly, Mass. – Once again, the Endicott women’s lacrosse teams was crowned The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) Champions after a 10-1 regular season gave way to three straight wins in the conference tournament.   The Gulls hosted nationally-ranked Tufts in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, their sixth straight postseason appearance, and finished the season 14-7 overall.  

Endicott cleaned up the conference awards as eight members of the 2011 squad received honors. Junior attack Morgan DeShaw (Danville, N.H.) highlighted the group with her second straight First Team selection. DeShaw finished the season ranked 33rd nationally in goals (66) and 43rd in points (85) en route to First Team IWLCA All-Pilgrim Region honors. 

Sophomore Holly Davis (Guilford, Conn.) made up the second half of the high-scoring duo and was recognized with Second Team All-TCCC accolades. Davis finished 41st nationally in goal (63) and 65th in points (76) on her way to a Second Team IWLCA All-Region selection. 

Together, DeShaw and Davis spearheaded an Endicott offense that ranked 16th in the nation in points (417) and 32nd in scoring offense (14.57 goals per game). In all, five players scored more than 20 goals and seven tallied more than 20 points. 

A trio of seniors was named All-TCCC Second Team. Molly Sowles (Yarmouth, Maine), Kellie Cunningham (Derry, N.H), and Brittany Kane (Scarborough, Maine) each played a crucial role in helping the Blue and Green outscore conference opponents 203-71 on the year. Sowles set career-highs with 29 goals and 22 assists as a fixture on the attack. Cunningham finished third on the team with 51 points on 41 goals and 10 assists while Kane played and started in all 21 games as the team’s most experienced defensive player. 

Junior goalie Leah Neff (South Berwick, Maine) started every game for the Gulls and was rewarded with a Second Team All-TCCC selection for the second straight year. Neff finished 39th nationally in saves (154) and 68th in goals against average (10.77). 

Sophomore midfield Lauren Todd (Newfields, N.H.) and freshman Kelsey Barnes (Brookside, N.J.) rounded out the awards with Honorable Mention selections.

The Gulls cruised through conference play until a 15-12 loss in the regular season finale to Western New England simultaneously snapped a 43-game conference win streak and sent them into the TCCC Tournament as the \#2 seed. 

Endicott opened the TCCC Tournament with a convincing 24-15 win over \#7 Salve Regina before late-game heroics proved to be the difference in a 13-12 win over \#3 Curry. Trailing by one with less than a minute to play, the Blue and Green rallied for two goals in the final 42 seconds – including Davis’ game winner with just seven ticks to go – to pull out the victory and keep their title hopes alive.

The TCCC Championship would be a matchup of the conference’s top teams as Endicott traveled to top-seeded Western New England. A strong defensive effort and six goals from Holly Davis helped the Gulls hoist their sixth straight TCCC Championship trophy and secure their sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.

Endicott welcomed No. 13 Tufts to the Stadium for an opening-round matchup in the NCAA Tournament. The Jumbos would prove to be too much as they built a 10-3 halftime lead and never looked back en route to a 17-6 victory. The Gulls finished with 14 wins, ensuring the Class of 2011 would finish tied with the Class of ’09 as the winningest in program history with 60 career victories.

The Gulls lose five seniors to graduation but look forward to the 2012 campaign as they welcome back a number of key contributors from this season.