Box Score
BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women’s
lacrosse team continued their streak of consecutive Commonwealth
Coast Conference (CCC) Championships as the Gulls rallied behind
six-point efforts from both Morgan DeShaw
(Danville, N.H.) and Callie Murphy (Woburn,
Mass.) to beat Gordon 20-14 for their seventh straight
conference title.
After going undefeated in league games during the regular season,
the top-seeded Gulls completed their quest for another CCC
Championship by defeating \#5 Roger Williams 16-10 and \#3 Gordon
20-14 to capture their fourth title under current head coach Meghan
Fitzgerald. Under Fitzgerald and the current group of
seniors, Endicott has gone 57-22 overall with only one loss in
conference match ups (37-1).
Endicott will now wait to find out their first round opponent in
the 2012 NCAA DIII Women’s Lacrosse Tournament. The
NCAA Selection Show is scheduled for Sunday night. A link to
the online broadcast will be provided on ECGulls.com when
information becomes available.
In Saturday’s CCC Championship, Endicott (12-5) quickly
jumped out to a 4-1 lead just 9:35 into the game. DeShaw
opened the game with her 53rd goal of the season off one
of her four free position goals on the day before Gordon’s
Jordan Alexander (Portland, Maine) scored the
first of her team-high five goals to tie the game at 1-1.
Endicott, however, scored three straight goals within a span of
1:26 to take the early advantage. Kelly Tierney
(South Hadley, Mass.), Murphy and DeShaw all scored during
this stretch.
The Scots fought back with four unassisted goals in-a-row,
including two by Alexander, to take their first lead of the game at
5-4. Sophomore Stephanie Fitzgerald (Groveland,
Mass.) and senior Jocie Knaus (Kensington,
Conn.) scored their first goals of the game before
Alexander went back-to-back at 16:54 and 13:58 in the first
half.
Endicott quickly tied the game on Holly Davis’
(Guilford, Conn.) first of two goals in the game and then
lead at 6-5 on Murphy’s second goal, an unassisted
tally. Murphy followed up with another goal at the 8:27 mark,
off an assist from sophomore Rachel Campos (Shrewsbury,
Mass.), to put the Blue and Green on top by two.
Alexander started a three-goal streak by the Scots at 7:55 that
saw the visitors take their second and final lead of the
game. Kari Christensen’s (Standish,
Maine) goal at 4:04 tied it up at 7-7 before Anna
Blomberg (Simsbury, Conn.) pushed Gordon ahead 8-7 just 12
seconds later.
Facing a one-goal deficit, Endicott rattled off four straight
goals to take the outright lead at 11-8 going into halftime.
The Gulls would not trail for the rest of the game. Three of
the four goals came off free position attempts including
Campos’ 11th goal of the season. Murphy
scored an unassisted goal at 1:38 before DeShaw closed out the half
with two free position goals just 12 seconds apart.
Gordon pulled to within one at 11-10 and 12-11 early in the second
half, but Endicott pressed on the gas by scoring eight of the next
nine goals including Lauren Todd’s (Newfields,
N.H.) first goal and back-to-back marks by junior
Caitlin Pratt (Bow, N.H.) to put Endicott on top
20-12 with 10:47 remaining. Only a free position goal by
Gordon’s Knaus interrupted Endicott offensive
outburst.
Over the final 10 minutes, Endicott slowed down the pace of the
game and it wasn’t until a Gulls turnover at the nine minute
mark was converted into a Fitzgerald goal down the other end at
8:19. Fitzgerald followed up with her third and final goal
only 17 seconds later after Scots midfielder Krysti Leach
(Naples, Maine) earned the draw control and found an open
Fitzgerald for the goal to make it 20-14.
Down the stretch, Endicott goalie Leah Neff (South
Berwick, Maine) made three of her seven saves to keep
Gordon off the scoreboard. Neff earned the victory, her third
conference championship win between the pipes for the
Gulls.
As a team, Endicott caused nine turnovers to just four for the
Scots. Defenders Kelsey Barnes (Brookside, N.J.),
Stacia Geno (White River Junction, Vt.) and Deven
Tentindo (Stratham, N.H.) all had two caused turnovers in
the game. Gordon’s Kelly Linehan (White Plains,
N.Y.) also tied that trio with a game-high two caused
turnovers.
On the draw, Endicott had a 21-15 advantage in draw
controls. Davis led all players with nine with Campos
scooping eight of her own. Blomberg led the Scots with six
draw controls.
In goal for Gordon, sophomore Danielle Maguire (Braintree,
Mass.) stopped 13 shots on goal, including 10 in the
second half, but took the loss.