Gulls Blank Lyons in Home Opener
Sept. 8, 2007
BEVERLY, MA - 2006 CCC Player of the Year Jennifer Rheaume (Blackstone, MA/Blackstone-Millville) led the Endicott College Gulls to a 2-0 win over the Wheaton College Lyons on Saturday afternoon in a rematch of last fall's ECAC Championship game.
Rheaume scored the games first goal on a hustle play as she took a shot that was saved by Lyons goalie Cameron Abel (Windham, NH/Salem) then collected the rebound and knocked it by Abel who was caught out of position. The goal came with 1:34 to play in the first half to give EC a 1-0 advantage. The Blue and Green struck again just 55-seconds later as sophomore Megan McBride (Saugus, MA/Saugus) drove a shot through traffic and past Abel, making it 2-0 at the half.
The two goal advantage was all first-year head coach Jodi Cipolla and the Gulls would need to improve to 2-0 on the year. TCCC Defensive Player of the Week Chelsea DeFeo (York, ME/York) backstopped the Gulls to another shutout, making nine saves between the pipes. DeFeo got help from defender Jennifer Beech (Devonshire, Bermuda/Saltas Grammar) who made three crucial defensive saves, including two in the final minutes of the second half.
The Lyons nearly pulled themselves within a goal of the home standing Gulls in the second half as Sara Dimick (Cumberland, ME/Greely) found the back of the net with a shot but had the goal disallowed by officials. Dimick paced the Wheaton offense with nine shots and proved to be a force upfront but the Gulls back line was able to keep the senior forward off the scoreboard.
Wheaton out shot Endicott 14-9 and had 17 penalty corners while EC managed just six. Abel made five saves in the loss as the Lyons fall to 3-1 on the season. Endicott improves to 2-0 on the season and returns to action on Saturday September 15, 2007 when the Gulls visit Salve Regina in a conference clash. Wheaton returns home on Sunday afternoon where the Lyons host Bowdoin College at 1:00 pm.