BEVERLY, Mass. – On Senior Day, the #15 Endicott men's lacrosse team took down Bowdoin 18-10 on Saturday afternoon in Endicott Stadium as the Gulls have now won eight of their last nine games while wrapping up their regular season record against the NESCAC with a 3-2 record. Endicott is now 12-3 (7-0 CCC) and will play their final regular season game of the season on Wednesday, April 23rd at Curry in CCC action.
The Gulls saw junior midfielder Harrison Cotter (Lordship, Conn.) registered his second straight game with seven goals while setting a new career with eight points as he added an assist to his outstanding effort in Saturday's win. Cotter continued to be efficient with his shooting, converting 7-of-11 shot attempts into goals, while looking to his teammates for scoring opportunities.
Cotter's lone assist came at the 9:29 mark of the third quarter as he delivered a pass to junior attacker Nick Pinciaro (Beverly, Mass.) who buried his second goal of the game. The tally capped off a five-goal stretch for the Gulls that expanded Endicott's lead from three to eight over a span of 5:58 game minutes.
After Bowdoin (9-5) scored back-to-back on a man-up chance by Polar Bears senior attacker Will Wise (Cohasset, Mass.), from Brandon Lee (South Salem, N.Y.), and a goal by senior midfielder Dan Hanley (Falmouth, Maine), from Franklin Reis (Hampton Falls, N.H.) just 21 seconds apart late in the second quarter, Gulls junior attacker Kyle Weber (West Hartford, Conn.) started off the five-goal streak with his first of two goals with only 27 seconds left until halftime. Endicott took a 9-5 lead into the break.
Pinciaro helped Endicott come out strong in the second half, scoring his first goal 55 seconds into the third quarter off a pass from junior midfielder Joshua Tordik (Sayville, N.Y.) to make it a five-goal game. The Weber to Cotter connection occurred on the next two goals at the 12:44 and 12:27 marks of the third quarter to make it 12-5 Gulls. Pinciaro's second goal pushed the Endicott lead up to 13-5 just 5:31 into the second half.
For the remainder of the game, both the Gulls and Polar Bears would score five goals apiece. For Endicott, freshman attacker Colin Bannon (Westport, Conn.) had his stick in two of those goals as he finished the day with two goals and two assists. For Bowdoin, Lee and Wise scored two more man-up goals as the Polar Bears were an effective 3-of-6 with the extra-man advantage.
Wise and Hanley each had two goals for Bowdoin while Lee led the team with three points on a goal and two assists.
Six players for the Gulls scored multiple goals. Besides Cotter, Weber, Bannon, Pinciaro, Tordik, and junior midfielder Jeremy Morgan (Lake Panamoka, N.Y.) all had two goals. Pinciaro dished out four assists on the day to tie his career-high of six points previously set on March 23rd, 2013 against Springfield.
Defensively, Endicott's senior defenseman Breck Merritt (Weston, Mass.) caused six turnovers and grabbed 10 ground balls, a career-high, for a Gulls squad that caused 18 Bowdoin turnovers. Junior defender Chris Cooney (Cranston, R.I.), junior defender Ian Knechtle (New Canaan, Conn.), and junior long-stick midfielder Will Farfalla (Glen Rock, N.J.) each contributed with three, two, and two caused turnovers, respectively. For Bowdoin, senior Ben Brewster (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) and junior Cody Dussault (Lewiston, Maine) both caused three turnovers apiece.
Sophomore goalie Cameron Bell (Falmouth, Maine) earned the win (12-3) by making 12 saves between the pipes. His counterpart, junior Connor Laughlin (McLean, Va.) made nine saves but was pulled in the fourth quarter for Peter Mumford (Plymouth, N.H.) who made four saves on six shots faced, allowing two goals.
On face-offs, freshman Tommy Hughes (Coram, N.Y.) won 19-of-32 opportunities with 13 ground balls.
Bowdoin will next travel to #8 Tufts on Wednesday, April 23rd for their regular season and conference finale.
