Oct. 16, 2007
BEVERLY, MA - It took nearly 100-minutes of play at Endicott Stadium to decide a winner between North Shore rivals Endicott College and Salem State College on Tuesday as Ashley Clark's (E. Kingston, NH/Pentucket Regional) overtime goal lifted the Gulls to a 2-1 win.
The two teams played an evenly matched contest but the Gulls were able to come away with the win with just 35-seconds left in the first overtime period. Senior forward Ashley Clark raced towards the goal and got her foot on a ball from Kelly Lajoie (York, ME/York) giving the Blue and Green a golden goal, 2-1 win.
Endicott opened the scoring when they took a 1-0 lead early in the second half. Erica Hunt (Colchester, VT/Colchester) served a cross into the middle of the box that Clark dropped back to a streaking Ellie Fleischer (Huntington, VT/Mount Mansfield). Fleischer settled the ball and easily slid the past the out of position Viking goalkeeper.
Salem State tied the game up with just over 15 minutes to play when Emily Mello (Becket, MA/Wahconah Regional) took advantage of EC's inability to clear the ball and headed a lose ball over the outstretched arms of Endicott goalie Amy Meuse (Saugus, MA/Saugus).
The Blue and Green had their offense working out shooting the Vikings 20-9 in regulation but had a tough time putting the ball on net as only 11 of the 20 shots were on goal. Kelly Dillon (Franklin, MA/Franklin), Paula McGinn (Lynn, MA/Lynn Classical) and Margreta Weber (Bedford, NH/Manchester West) all nearly gave the Gulls a lead in the final minute as they heavily pressured Salem State goalie Taylor Orlando (Danvers, MA/Danvers).
Dillon had the best chance for EC in the final minutes of regulation as she drove a shot at Taylor that came loose and nearly missed trickling across the goal line. While offense may have won the game defense was the story for both sides. The Gulls defense, anchored by Kelly Cosgrove (Sandwich, MA/Sandwich) and Sarah Miller (Nashua, NH/Geutrin), played very well turning away a number of Viking offensive chances. The Salem State defense was not to be out done as they forced Endicott's shooters to make one extra touch that kept them from squaring up for more on-target shots.
The Vikings fall to 6-6-2 overall with the loss, they get back into their MASCAC schedule on Saturday when they host Bridgewater State College at 4:00 p.m. The Gulls improve to 11-4 overall after the non-conference win and return to action on Thursday afternoon when they host TCCC rival Eastern Nazarene at 3:30 p.m.
