Fourth quarter comeback fuels Endicott’s 11-10 victory over Wentworth

BOSTON, Mass. – Facing a three-goal deficit with under nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Endicott men's lacrosse team mounted a dramatic comeback to beat Wentworth 11-10 on the road for their fourth straight victory and to remain undefeated in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play.

Endicott (7-3, 3-0 CCC) pulled to within one after sophomore attacker Kyle Weber (West Hartford, Conn.) scored his third goal of the quarter to make it 10-9 with 5:15 remaining in regulation.  Weber then assisted on junior Chris Murphy's (Holden, Mass.) game-tying goal before sophomore attacker Scott McCormack (Norwalk, Conn.) gave Endicott its first lead since midway through the first quarter by beating the goalie off a feed from sophomore Jonathan Morgan (Lake Panamoka, N.Y.) with 2:54 left on the clock.  Weber would finish with a game-high five points on three goals and two assists. 

In the final moments of the game, continued superb play from face-off specialist Sam Ozycz (Cheshire, Conn.) as well as a caused turnover by senior Connor McCormack (Norwalk, Conn.) helped Endicott maintain possession and kept Wentworth from attempting any game-tying heroics.  Ozycz was near perfect in this game, winning 22-of-25 (88%) with 19 groundballs as the graduate student improved his season face-of win percentage to 68.9%, one of top-five percentages in the nation. 

The Gulls kick off a three-game home stand on Saturday, April 6^th against CCC foe Salve Regina at 3:00 pm at Endicott Stadium before taking on the country's fourth ranked team, Tufts, next Tuesday and last season's CCC Semifinals opponent Roger Williams on Saturday, April 9^th. 

Wentworth (6-2, 1-2 CCC) had started the season off with six wins in their first seven games which included a blowout win over Nichols and a narrow defeat at the hands of the University of New England in conference games.  Junior midfielder Chris Kipp (Scarborough, Maine) scored three goals and sophomore midfielder Michael Cushera (Waltham, Mass.) totaled four points for the Leopards who move on to face non-conference opponent Mass Maritime on Thursday night at 7:00 pm at home.   

In the opening quarter, Gulls sophomore attacker Nick Pinciaro (Beverly, Mass.) scored the first of his three goals 2:59 into the period off an assist from Morgan to put Endicott on top 1-0.  After Wentworth tied the game at 1-1, Pinciaro scored again despite being man-down after an Endicott slashing penalty to give the Gulls the lead.  It would be their last lead until the 2:54 mark of the first quarter as the Wentworth offense kicked into gear by netting the next four goals to go up 5-2 early in the second quarter.

Back-to-back goals by the McCormack and Pinciaro's third tally of the game evened the score a five goals apiece in the second quarter.  Endicott and Wentworth went into halftime tied 6-6.  Pinciaro scored all four of his points in the first half on a hat trick plus an assist on Connor McCormack's second goal of the game to make it 6-6. 

The Leopards netted the only two goals of the third quarter to take an 8-6 lead and stretched their lead to three goals at 9-6 before Endicott started their comeback bid.  Only a Cushera goal at the 6:31 mark of the fourth quarter broke up Endicott's streak towards victory late in the game. 

In goal for Endicott, freshman Cameron Bell (Falmouth, Maine) made seven saves while allowing nine of the 10 Wentworth goals.  Junior Nick Triano (North Andover, Mass.) stepped into the cage in relief of Bell and played the final 8:20 of the game, allowing one goal and earning the victory to move to 1-0 on the year.  For Wentworth, junior Jared Proulx (Nashua, N.H.) faced 28 shots, made 17 saves, and allowed 11 goals in net. 

Along with Ozycz's 22-for-25 effort on face-offs, he also had his stick in three of Endicott's 13 caused turnovers.  Connor McCormack, senior defenseman Anthony Martignetti (Winchester, Mass.), and sophomore attacker Joshua Tordik (Sayville, N.Y.) all contributed with two caused turnovers each.  Sophomore Breck Merritt (Weston, Mass.) scooped five groundballs in the win. 

Endicott outshot Wentworth 54-30 in the game and went 19-of-20 on clear attempts.  Wentworth took advantage of six man-up opportunities with four goals while the Gulls went 0-for-3.