Beverly, Mass. – February 21, 2009 – Kyle Gable and Mike Delia each tallied a pair of goals but the 11th-ranked Endicott College men’s lacrosse team used goals from nine different players as they topped No. 20 Springfield College, 12-4, in a top-20 showdown on Wednesday afternoon in Beverly, Massachusetts. The win improves the Gulls to 2-0 overall, while the Pride stumbles to 0-1 in their season-opener.
It looked like Endicott would strike first as Eddie OÂ'Reilly buried a quick-stick goal on the crease just 2:22 into the opening quarter, seemingly giving the Gulls an early 1-0 lead. The goal, however, would eventually be disallowed as OÂ'Reilly was flagged for an illegal stick on the subsequent inspection by the official, resulting in a three minute non-releasable penalty for the senior.
The Blue and Green were able to kill off the man-advantage, allowing OÂ'Reilly to recoup his debt just moments later. The senior midfielder took a feed from Brad Lipkvich and buried a bomb from 15-yards out to give Endicott a 1-0 lead with 5:27 left in the opening quarter. The Gulls would score twice more before the end of the frame, a David Scarfo bouncer and a Dan Cain tally with just one second left, giving Endicott a 3-0 lead after one.
With the momentum on its side, Endicott continued to roll in the second quarter as the Gulls scored four more times including a low crank-shot by Nick Cosco to cruise into the intermission with a 7-0 lead. Junior goalie Eric Hagarty had six saves including two impressive stops on the crease in the opening 30 minutes of play.
Springfield finally broke the shutout bid 1:59 into the third as speedy freshman, Delia, dodged from the top of the box and snuck a bounce-shot past Hagarty on the stick side to make it 7-1. Endicott responded by rattling off four unanswered to close out the quarter with a dominating 11-1 lead.
The Pride would notch three goals in the final stanza as Delia notched his second of the night and Gable closed out the scoring with back-to-back tallies off a pair of assists from Jake Beebe. Chris Jez picked up six ground balls as he went 7-for-15 from the “X”, while Mike Smith caused a team-best three turnovers on the defensive end.
Eddie OÂ'Reilly led all point-getters with a goal and four assists in the win. Dan Cain notched three goals while fellow senior Taylor Wuenneman found the back of the net twice for the Blue and Green. Nick Cosco, Brandon Dube, Jonathan Prentice and Brad Lipkvich each had a goal and a helper while Jack Curtis and David Scarfo ended with a goal apiece.
EndicottÂ's Eric Hagarty made 10 saves to improve to 2-0, while his counterpart Tom Albano had eight saves in the loss.
Springfield has its home-opener on Sunday afternoon, as the Pride will look to rebound against Nazareth.
