Gulls Top Nichols, 11-1, In Home Opener

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott field hockey team earned a decisive 11-1 victory over Nichols College on Thursday night at North Field in the Gulls' home opener to begin Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play.

The Gulls raced out to a fast start, going up 5-0 at the half and never looked back as freshman forward Nicki Thurston (Fryeburg, Maine) registered her first career hat trick to pace the Gulls' offensive attack.

Nichols got on the board in the 37th minute as senior midfielder Jacqueline O'Connor (Palmer, Mass.) scored her second goal of the season for the Bison to make it 5-1 Endicott at the time.

Endicott tacked on six more goals before time expired, highlighted by junior defender Emylee Wood's (Kensington, N.H.) pair of goals and one assist.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Seven different student-athletes scored for Endicott, as the Gulls out-shot Nichols, 37-6.
• Thurston currently leads the team with five goals on the season.
• Endicott tied the single-game program record for most goals (11 vs. Regis on 10/24/09).
• The Gulls set a new program record with 31 points (11 goals, 9 assists) in a single game.
• Endicott leads the series, 16-4 against the Bison, dating back to the 2003 season.
• The Gulls have won the past five meetings versus Nichols.
• Senior goalkeeper Cheka Ventura (Lawrence, Mass.) stopped three shots and allowed just one goal to improve to 2-2 on the season before giving way to Jamie Corda (Higganum, Conn.) in the 61st minute.
• Endicott is now 7-3 in home openers in the last 10 seasons under head coach Jodi Cipolla.
• Junior midfielder Samantha Crowley (Leicester, Mass.) tallied one goal, and had two helpers for the second consecutive game, bringing her assists season total to four (team-high).

FOR THE FOES

• Senior goalkeeper Katherine Cotton (Kennebunk, Maine) stopped a season-high 14 shots in the complete-game effort as she dropped to 0-1 on the season.
• O'Connor scored her second goal of the season for the Bison in the 37th minute.
• Freshman midfielder Erin Kelley (Dighton, Mass.) had her second assist on the season on O'Connor's goal.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (2-2, 1-0 CCC) travels to Roger Williams University on Saturday, September 17 at 3:30 p.m.

Nichols (1-5, 0-1 CCC) hosts Roger Williams University on Tuesday, September 20 at 7:00 p.m. in Dudley, Mass.  

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