BEVERLY, Mass. – Endicott women's lacrosse made program history on Wednesday afternoon by earning their first ever NCAA tournament victory with a 4-3 win over Springfield College at Endicott Stadium.
The Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) champions, the Gulls (13-7) were making their eighth consecutive appearance on the national stage and were able to hold off the Pride (11-8) in a defensive, low-scoring game, to advance in their regional bracket.
Endicott junior goalie Rachel Socolow (Westford, Mass.) made seven saves, none bigger than one in the final minute on a point-blank free-position attempt by Springfield's Kerstin Lindrooth (Bryn Athyn, Pa.), which preserved a one-goal lead for the Gulls.
Callie Murphy (Woburn, Mass.) converted what would eventually be the game-winner at the 16:37 mark of the second half, capping a 4-0 Endicott run after Springfield had tallied the game's first two markers. Murphy took a pass from Kelly Tierney (South Hadley, Mass.) and finished from close range for her 41st goal of the year.
Both teams played incredibly well in their own defensive ends, stifling runs at the net and providing few goal-scoring opportunities, which made for lengthy bouts of possession without shots.
Holly Davis (Guilford, Conn.) scored twice for the Blue and Green, getting the Gulls on the board and cutting their deficit in half with four minutes to play in the first stanza when she converted a free-position attempt. Endicott was 1-2 on free-position attempts, while the Pride, who outshot Endicott 14-11, missed on both of their free-position opportunities.
Davis assisted on a goal by Tierney just over two minutes into the second half to tie the game, and then the Gulls took the lead for good when Davis netted her 67th goal of the season with twenty-one minutes remaining in the game.
Sophomore Michelle Dorsey (Fairfield, Conn.) scored all three Prides goals, two of them in the first fifteen minutes of play. She opened the game's scoring with an unassisted tally at 20:40 and then doubled the visitor's advantage just three minutes later, taking a feed from Lindrooth, who earned her thirteenth helper of the year. Dorsey completed her hat trick with another unassisted tally, her 35th goal of the season, at the 9:00 mark, but Socolow and the Gulls' defense came up big down the stretch to prevent the visitors from tying the game.
Senior Lauren Todd (Newfields, N.H.) led an Endicott defense that caused ten turnovers, to just three from the Pride. Todd forced three miscues and grabbed two ground balls, while Tierney, Kelsey Barnes (Mendham, N.J.), Caitlin Pratt (Bow, N.H.) each caused two turnovers in the victory.
Endicott junior Rachel Campos (Shrewsbury, Mass.) won two draw controls, though Springfield, led by two each from Dorsey and Lindrooth, had the 6-3 edge in draws. Sophomore Ellie Getchell (Franklin, Mass.) paced the Pride with two caused turnovers and senior Meghan Flanagan (Averill Park, N.Y.) grabbed three ground balls.
The Gulls will move on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, which will take place on Saturday at 11:30 am. Endicott will travel to Middlebury College, the #3 ranked team in the country. Additional game details will be announced in the coming days.
