No. 16 Endicott knocks off No. 4 Wesleyan in OT
March 10, 2008
BEVERLY, Mass. - Endicott College's Brandon Dube (Danvers, Mass.) drove from behind the cage with 55-seconds left in overtime, slipping the ball past Wesleyan goaltender Mike Borrero (Bayport, N.Y.) to lift 16th-ranked Endicott past fourth-ranked Wesleyan University, 6-5, at Endicott Stadium in Beverly, Massachusetts.
With the win, the Gulls improve to 4-0 overall (1-0 TCCC), while Wesleyan dips to 1-1 (0-0 NESCAC).
The Blue and Green got the game started as Nick Cosco (Londonderry, N.H.) buried a seed from 15-yards out off a pass from Eddie O'Reilly (Beverly, Mass.) to give the hosts an early one goal advantage. Endicott doubled its lead with less than two minutes left in the opening frame, as Dan Cain (Billerica, Mass.) redirected a Brandon Dube feed on the crease, tipping the ball past Borrero for the man-up strike.
The Cardinals were able to cut the lead in half before the end of the first as Russ Follansbee (Deerfield, Mass) struck on the man-advantage, faking goalie Eric Hagarty (Sudbury, Mass.) to find the back of the net. The visitors would trail 2-1 after one.
The Cardinals rode their late first quarter momentum to back-to-back tallies to begin the second. Grayson Connors (Princeton Junction, N.J.) tied the game at 2-all as he converted a Jason Ben-Eliyahu (East Setauket, N.Y.) feed on the crease with 10:56 showing on the clock. Endicott was whistled for two penalties on the play, resulting in a man-up attempt for Wesleyan. The Cardinals did not disappoint their faithful as the visitors spun the ball quickly around the box, allowing Connors to find Follansbee back-door for the go-ahead goal.
Trailing by one, the Gulls were quick to respond as John Ortolani (Billerica, Mass.) cleanly won the ensuing face-off and pushed the ball ahead on a fast break. Ortolani found Nick Cosco for his second of the day, knotting the score at 3-3 just eight seconds later. That would prove to be all the scoring in the first half, as each squad's defense played tough to close out the second.
Wesleyan's Jason Ben-Eliyahu scored the only goal of the third quarter as he returned the lead to the Cardinals sideline mid-way thru frame number three. The goaltenders played strong in the third, as Endicott's Hagarty turned in four saves while his counterpart Mike Borrero stopped three.
Grayson Connors gave Wesleyan a two-goal cushion 1:52 into the fourth quarter as he converted Follansbee's second assist of the game into a 5-3 Cardinal lead. The Gulls began to let shots fly near the midpoint of the fourth, hitting three straight posts (two posts and a crossbar) as they worked a comeback attempt. Brandon Dube made it a one goal game with 8:15 left in the fourth as he beat Borrero to make the score 5-4. Borrero came up huge over the next several minutes as he made two strong saves on shots from the outside while also turning away a shot on the doorstep to keep the visitors up one.
With just over a minute remaining in regulation, freshman attack John Curtis (Chelmsford, Mass.) rode hard on a Wesleyan clear attempt, snagging a pass off the stick of junior defender Nick Hayes (Duxbury, Mass.). Curtis turned to the middle of the field and found a streaking Eddie O'Reilly who buried the equalizer with 1:07 left to force overtime.
In the extra session Wesleyan dominated possession for the first 2:30. The Gulls defense packed it in near the mouth of the cage, forcing the Cardinals to shoot from the outside. An errant shot by Russ Follansbee allowed Lucien Bolduc (South Windsor, Conn.) to scoop up the ground ball to gain control for Endicott. After the successful clear, coach Sean Quick quickly signaled for a timeout. With a play drawn up, Brandon Dube drove from the back of the cage, sweeping to his left, grabbing just enough of an angle to slip the ball off hip for the game winner.
Endicott was led by Dube and Cosco's two goals apiece. Eddie O'Reilly had a goal and an assist while John Ortolani went 11-of-15 from the face-off X, scooping up eight ground ball in the process. Eric Hagarty made 14 saves in the win.
Russ Follansbee had four points as he notched two goals and two helpers for the visitors. Grayson Connors had two goals and an assist while netminder Mike Borrero had 14 saves for the Cardinals.
Endicott, who entered Monday's contest ranked 16th in the nation, returns to action on Saturday afternoon when it hosts Babson College at 1:00 p.m. Things don't get much easier for fourth-ranked Wesleyan, as the Cardinals will play 15th-ranked Nazareth in Florida a week from Tuesday.