BEVERLY, Mass. — The top-seeded Endicott women's lacrosse team is moving on to the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship game after hanging on for a 12-5 semifinal victory over No. 5 Gordon College Wednesday afternoon at Hempstead Stadium

Endicott jumped out to a 3-0 lead before senior midfielder MC Aston (Greenwich, N.Y.) got Gordon on the board with 21:07 to play in the opening half.

A run of four consecutive goals for the Gulls, including the second and third strikes of the day for a first half hat trick from senior midfielder Emily Whitney (Rye, N.H.) gave Endicott a 7-1 cushion at the break.

In a tale of two halves, the Fighting Scots fought to the finish. A trio of tallies to begin the second stanza brought the visitors to within three, trailing just 7-4 with 18:18 remaining in regulation when sophomore attack/midfielder Olivia McCarrick (Glen Burnie, Md.) took advantage of a man-up situation and notched her conference-leading 59th goal of the season.

Clinging to an 8-5 edge at the 13:14 mark, the Gulls then buried four in a row to close out the contest, including three of senior attack Meghan Lennon's (Canton, Mass.) game-high five goals to secure the victory and punch their ticket to a return trip to the conference title game.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Endicott leads the all-time series, 16-12 (10-5 at home) against Gordon. 
• The Gulls won the most recent meeting before today with a 16-0 road shutout on April 25th in Wenham, Mass. last week.
• Whitney finished with a game-high six points (three goals, three assists), while junior midfielder Olivia Larson (Cheshire, Conn.) led the way with a game-best five draw controls.
• Senior defender Chelsea Burke (Georgetown, Mass.) caused a game-high four turnovers.
• Sophomore goalie Bella Rino (Northborough, Mass.) improved to 9-1 in goal as she made five stops.
• The Gulls will be making their 13th appearance in the conference title game after having qualified for the conference tournament each in the past 14 consecutive years, and 18 of the 22 years since Endicott became NCAA Division III varsity program in 1996.
• Endicott is in the hunt for its 10th CCC title and first under third-year head coach Morgan Maciewicz, who was named CCC Coach of the Year this season as the Gulls clinched the regular-season crown.

FOR THE FOES

• The Fighting Scots were led in scoring by Aston and senior midfielder Caroline Walton (Irvine, Calif.) each chipping in two goals apiece.
• Freshman goalkeeper Melanie Dwyer (Reading, Mass.) kept Gordon in the game with a career-high 14 saves in the defeat as she dropped to 7-9 on the season.
• The difference maker in the game was Gordon that turned the ball over 22 times to Endicott's 16, and struggled to convert in transition (12-of-24 clear attempts).

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (13-4) advances to the CCC Championship on Saturday, May 6th where the Gulls will welcome last season's CCC Champion in No. 2 Roger Williams for a conference title game rematch, this time on Endicott's home turf at Hempstead Stadium at a time to be determined later.

Gordon (9-9) sees its season come to a close.  

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(Photo Credit — Mike Conners)