Box Score
SALEM, Mass. – Endicott College opened up a two-goal lead at North Shore rival Salem State, but the Vikings scored three second half goals and earned a hard-fought, 4-3 victory on Wednesday afternoon at Alumni Field. The Gulls drop their fourth game in a row and fall to 1-6 on the year, while Salem State levels their record to 3-3 on the season.
Senior Kaitlyn Aronian (Chelmsford, Mass.) scored back-to-back second half goals for the hosts, first to tie the game with thirteen minutes remaining and then the winner at the 65:09 mark.
Cassie DeSimone (Reading, Mass.) scored her third goal of the year to open up a 3-1 lead for Endicott in the second half. DeSimone had already assisted on the Gull's first goal of the game, a strike by Hannah Thornberg (Oakland, Maine) that tied the game at one. It was Thornberg's eighth tally of the season.
Melissa Enright (York Beach, ME) beat Salem State goalie Michaela Boyer (South Hadley, Mass.) on a penalty shot when she sent a rocket into the upper left corner of the net to give the visiting Gulls a 2-1 lead, which they took into the break.
Salem State hung in and regained momentum when a goal by Eryn Shea (Spencer, Mass.) at 42:35 cut the deficit to 3-2. Energized by the score, Aronian tied the game off a feed from Shea at 57:17, before finally delivering the knockout blow, her team-leading fifth goal of the year to seal the 4-3 win.
The Gulls outshot the Vikings 18-12, including 11-5 in the second half. Boyer made 13 saves in net for Salem State while her counterpart Taylor Teixera (Exeter, N.H.) stopped five shots.
Salem State had used a strong offensive push to gain an early 1-0 lead. Controlling the ball in Endicott's end for most of the opening period, the Vikings finally broke through with a score by Lauren Pazdziorny (Middleton, Mass.) at the 14:08 mark.
Endicott will return to conference play, where they are 0-1, when they host Nichols College Saturday at 1:00 pm. The Vikings are at home again on Saturday for a 10:00 AM tilt against Worcester State.
