Gulls Claim First CCC Win of the Season Behind Goals From Marinelli & Litwin

DUDLEY, Mass.-  The Endicott women's soccer team entered their match against Nichols on Saturday looking for their first Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) win of the season.  After 90 minutes of play, the Gulls would escape with a 2-1 victory to improve their overall record to 3-2-2 on the season and 1-1-0 in CCC play.  The Bison saw their record fall to 4-3-0 overall and  a matching 1-1-0 in CCC play.  Endicott travels to Babson on Tuesday for a non-conference match at 4:30 p.m. before returning home on Saturday to host Roger Williams at 7:00 p.m. on Homecoming Weekend.

The match against Nichols saw Endicott enter the match looking for their first win in the last three matches while the Bison were looking to extend their win streak to four.  With the win, Endicott extended its win streak over Nichols to 15, having out-scored the Bison 38-6 over that stretch.  Overall, Endicott is now 19-3-1 all-time against Nichols.  

In the first half, the Gulls and Bison would play a scoreless frame as neither team could solve the opposing keeper.  Endicott recorded six shots in the half, five of which were on goal as Kelly English (Marshfield, Mass.) stopped all five attempts.  Her counterpart, Endicott keeper Katie Donnelly (Madison, Conn.) was also up to the test as she stopped both shots on goal that the Bison could muster out of their only two shots.  The Gulls also attempted three corners to zero for the Bison but couldn't capitalize on their attempts.

With the intensity picking up a notch in the second, Endicott dominated for majority of the half as they out-shot Nichols 13-2 in the frame while also receiving nine corner kicks to zero for the Bison.  The Gulls were whistled for seven fouls in the second while Nichols was called for just one.

Even with these stats, the score would remain 0-0 until late in the half when Endicott would finally break though.  Junior Paige Marinelli (Burlington, Conn.) would beat the defense for a breakaway and fire a shot to the lower left corner to beat English and give the GUlls a 1-0 lead in the 80th minute.  The goal was Marinelli's second of the season as she is now tied for the team lead.  

Not satisfied with just the one goal lead, the Gulls would continue to apply the pressure and would see Rebecca Litwin (Westborough, Mass.) tally her first goal of the season and her Endicott career in the 89th minute.  Litwin found herself in possession of the ball just outside the Nichols box and was able to place a beautiful ball over a leaping English to give Endicott a 2-0 lead and record what would eventually serve as the game winner.

Nichols would record their only tally of the match just 30 seconds later as Brooke Maher (North Attleboro, Mass.) would record her second of the season on the Bison's lone shot on goal in the second half.  That strike would conclude all the offense for the match as Endicott would head home with a 2-1 win in hand.

With the win, Endicott moves to 3-2-2 on the season and 1-1-0 in CCC play while the Bison fall to 4-3-0 overall and  a matching 1-1-0 in CCC play.  Endicott travels to Babson on Tuesday for a non-conference match at 4:30 p.m. before returning home on Saturday to host Roger Williams at 7:00 p.m. on Homecoming Weekend.  Nichols is off until Tuesday as well when they will take to the road for two non-conference matches against Fisher and Fitchburg State on Tuesday and Thursday before playing host to Curry on Saturday.