Feb. 27, 2007
BEVERLY, MA - The Endicott College men's lacrosse team started the 2007 season off with a bang, as the Gulls shot their way to a 10-6 win over Springfield College on Tuesday afternoon in Beverly, MA. Springfield entered Tuesday's contest ranked No. 12 in the Laxpower.com National Rankings.
The Pride struck first on a bizarre "own goal," as Endicott goaltender Sean Kearney (Mahopac, NY/Mahopac) left his cage to scoop up a loose ball behind the net. A weird bounce pushed the ball in front of the Endicott cage, eventually deflecting off a defender's stick and into the EC goal. The Pride's Jake Beebe (Sudbury, MA/Lincoln-Sudbury) doubled the visitor's lead just a minute later, beating Kearney from 12-yards out, putting SC up 2-0. Following an Endicott timeout, the Gulls got themselves on the board as Nick Cosco (Londonderry, NH/Londonderry) rifled a shot past Springfield goaltender Kyle Cloutier's (South Hadley, MA/South Hadley) right shoulder, making the score 2-1. The Pride would end the 1st quarter up two, after Joe Heney (Plainview, NY/Plainview) found the back of the net on the near side, giving the visitors a two-goal cushion after one.
Endicott cut the lead in half as Brandon Dube (Danvers, MA/Danvers) corralled a loose ball in front of the Springfield cage, and beat Cloutier on a slick bounce shot to pull the score to 3-2. The Gulls evened the game at 3-all when Taylor Wuenneman (Southington, CT/Avon Old Farms) got a pretty give-and-go feed from Dube and beat Cloutier on the crease, tying the game for the first time. Springfield responded as Jake Jones (Amherst, MA/Amherst Regional) stuck a crank shot under the crossbar, regaining the slight one goal lead for the visitors. Eddie O'Reilly (Beverly, MA/Beverly) kept the see-saw first half going as the he found stick side hip on a man-up opportunity, making the score 4-4. Moments later, the Gulls grabbed their first lead of the afternoon as Joe Gugino (West Hartford, CT/Conrd) scored on a bounce shot from 15-yards out, giving Endicott the 5-4 halftime lead.
The third quarter started and Endicott built their lead to two just 3:00 minutes in, as Dan Ryan (Billerica, MA/Billerica) swept to the left side and found the back of the net, making the score 6-4. The Gulls would pull ahead by three when Patrick Gaffney (Worcester, MA/St. John's) legged the ball coast-to-coast and found Eddie O'Reilly, who skipped the ball backdoor to Brandon Dube for a nice quick stick goal, putting Endicott up 7-4. The Pride closed out the third quarter as Kyle Gable (Somers, CT/Somers) took a feed from Tyler Montgomery (Brunswick, ME/Brunswick) and beat the Endicott goaltender, closing within two at 7-5.
The Pride turned to Jake Beebe in the fourth quarter, as the sophomore attackman took a pass from Jake Jones and ripped a shot into the Endicott goal, pulling Springfield within one at 7-6. That's as close as the visitors would get however, as Endicott regained their two goal lead when David Scarfo (Billerica, MA/Billerica) took a pass on the crease from Wuenneman and beat the Cloutier off stick hip, putting Endicott up 8-6. The Gulls advanced their lead to three as Josh Gilbert (Simsbury, CT/Simsbury) found the back of the net on a low bounce shot, pushing the Gulls to a 9-6 lead. The Blue and Green sealed the season opening victory as Eddie O'Reilly found a wide open Nick Cosco who put the game away with a crank shot, pushing Endicott to the 10-6 win.
Endicott's Nick Cosco and Brandon Dube eached tallied two goals for the Gulls, while Joe Gugino added a goal and two assists in the win. Sean Kearney had a standout game between the pipes for the Blue and Green, notching 12 saves in the winning effort. The Pride were led by Jake Beebe's two goals.
The Gulls get back to work on Saturday as they travel north to square off with Bates College. The Bobcats and the Gulls are set to face-off at 2:00 PM in Lewiston, ME.
