Posted: May 02, 2012
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BEVERLY, Mass. – Endicott's women’s lacrosse trailed by a goal at halftime to Roger Williams but outscored the Hawks 11-4 after the break to come from behind and win their Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) semifinal matchup 16-10.
Endicott (11-5) advances to the CCC title game for the eight consecutive year and will try to win their seventh straight CCC Championship on Saturday at 1:00 pm. Roger Williams ends their season at 6-12, and amassed a 3-4 CCC record).
Holly Davis (Guilford, Conn.) scored six times, all of them in the second half and helped the Gulls turn things around after a first half in which she and leading scorer Morgan DeShaw (Danville, N.H.) were shut down offensively.
Endicott got on the board first through Callie Murphy’s (Woburn, Mass.) 32nd goal of the season 16 minutes into the half. They held the lead for close to ten minutes but the Hawks used two quick strikes to grab a 2-1 advantage. The first was a free position goal by Danielle Neagle (Avon, Conn.). The second came just 46 seconds later from the stick of Jessica Searl (Glastonbury, Conn.) on an assist by senior Danica Delia (Norwalk, Conn.). Delia had five assists in the game to lead all players, two more of them coming in the final ten minutes of the first half.
Sophomore Rachel Campos (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and junior Kelly Tierney (South Hadley, Mass.) scored the next four goals of the game, two apiece, to put Endicott back in front by a 5-3 score. Tierney had a hat trick and an assist in the game.
The Hawks got two goals back through Kelsey Rahilly (E.Longmeadow, Mass.) and then tallies by Kristen Pingree (Georgetown, Mass.) and one from Delia with 19 seconds left in the first to take the 6-5 lead into the break.
Endicott opened the second half with three straight goals to regain the lead, starting when Tierney scored less than a minute into the second half to tie the game at six. Lauren Todd (Newfields, N.H.) gave Endicott the lead at the 26 minute mark and Davis notched her first goal less than a minute later and the Gulls would not look back.
After a Roger Williams goal by Pingree, Davis netted two more markers to put the Gulls up 10-7 with just over twenty minutes to play. Senior Michelle Loizzo (Longmeadow, Mass.) added two goals in the final fifteen minutes of play and Murphy tallied again for the Gulls, while DeShaw, who the Hawks did a good job of holding at bay, picked up two assists in the second half.
Todd grabbed six ground balls to lead all players, while Davis and Loizzo co-led the Gulls with four draw controls apiece. Freshman Mackenzie Logan (Sussex, N.J.) led Roger Williams and all players with seven draw controls and Delia grabbed three ground balls to go with her goal and five assists.
Senior goalie Leah Neff (South Berwick, Maine) stopped seven shots for Endicott and junior Justine Suillivan (Norwell, Mass.) made five stops in defeat for Roger Williams
Both teams were 12-13 in clear attempts, while Endicott had a slim advantage in ground balls (18-15). The Hawks won 15 draw controls and Endicott gained possession 12 times off of the draw.
The top seeded Gulls will host third-seeded Gordon College in Saturday’s championship game. The Fighting Scots upset \#2 University of New England 13-10 in the other semifinal matchup.
