Beverly, Mass. – March 2, 2011 – The Springfield College men’s lacrosse team rallied from a four-goal deficit but couldn’t hold off Endicott College as it dropped a 9-6 decision in non-conference action on Wednesday afternoon.

Springfield, which entered the game ranked 18th in the country in this week’s USILA National Poll, drops to 2-1 on the season. The Gulls avenged a season-opening loss to Stevens Tech to even their record at 1-1.

  Senior Jack Curtis and sophomore Connor McCormack each recorded a hat-trick in the win while junior Jon Thanas handed out a game-high four assists.  Senior Chris Cotter added two goals and a pair of assists for the Gulls.

For the Pride Austin Orsini tallied a team-best two strikes, while Shawn Runyon and Mike Delia each posted a goal and an assist.

  McCormack did most of his damage in the opening period, putting the hosts on top, 3-1, after the first 15 minutes of play.  Thanas found Curtis with 3:27 remaining in the half to stretch the lead to four before McCormack and Cotter connected with one minute left to make it 5-1 at the break.

  Springfield lived up to their billing as a nationally-ranked team and scored four unanswered coming out of the half.  Mark Eaton opened the scoring with just under ten minutes to play before Runyon and Parker Geane added goals 30 seconds apart to close the gap to one.  Orsini recorded the first of two goals on the day with 3:33 remaining in the third to knot the game at five apiece.

  However, Endicott went on a tear to start the final period as Thanas set up Cotter with 11:35 remaining to give Endicott a lead it would not surrender.  Curtis tacked on two more, once at 10:16 and again at 6:44, to give the Gulls a three-goal cushion.  Sophomore Brian Estes assisted on the first and Cotter, who also finished with four ground balls, set up the second. 

  OrsiniÂ's goal with just over five minutes to go threatened to spark a late rally but Estes sealed the upset win with a goal at 3:43.

  Sophomore Mike Klein registered 14 saves in his first start of the season en route to the win. 

  Junior Sam Ozycz paced the Gulls with six ground balls while senior Robert Crossett added three to go along with three caused turnovers.

  Eaton led the way with a game-high nine ground balls for the Pride, while Sean Kerrigan and Jason Ohnsman each caused three turnovers.

Springfield will next face-off against 20th-ranked Stevens on Sunday afternoon on Stagg Field at 1:00 pm.