Gulls hold off Roger Williams, 8-3
March 28, 2009
BEVERLY, Mass. - The 5th-ranked Endicott men's lacrosse team held off a strong second half effort by Roger Williams, downing the Hawks, 8-3, in The Commonwealth Coast Conference action on Saturday afternoon in Beverly, Mass. The win ups the Gulls' record to 8-1 overall and 3-0 in TCCC play. Roger Williams suffers its second loss the year, dipping to 5-2 (1-1 TCCC).
The Gulls took the field and immediately grasped control the game, sprinting out to a 3-0 lead after one quarter of play. Nick Cosco (Londonderry, N.H.) wasted no time scoring his 17th of the season as he swept his way off goal-line extended and unleashed a crank shot under the crossbar just 1:11 into the game for the early 1-0 lead. Eddie O'Reilly (Beverly, Mass.) then made it 2-0 as he took a feed from Dan Cain (Billerica, Mass.) from behind the cage the beat Tyler Roebuck (Montgomery, N.Y.) less than a minute later doubling the Endicott advantage.
Cosco helped close out the frame as he threaded the needle with a precision pass to Chris Cotter (Fairfield, Conn.) on the RWU goalmouth. A simple up fake on the cage allowed Cotter a slip the ball past the outstretched goalkeeper to extend the lead to 3-0.
Brandon Dube (Danvers, Mass.) continued to pile it on for the hosts at the 9:22 mark of the second quarter, as he buried a low bounce shot on the man-advantage to put Endicott up four. The Hawks' Dave Hurley (Hanover, Mass.) got Roger Williams on the board with a man-up tally with less than two minutes left in the half, as the senior converted a pass from Drew Smith (Blue Point, N.Y.) to make it 4-1 at the intermission.
A Brad Lipkvich (Madison, Conn.) strike five minutes into the third regained the four goal cushion for the Blue and Green, as Lipkvich found the upper corner to start the third. However the momentum slowly began to shift to the visitors sideline as the Hawks scored back-to-back goals, making it a 5-3 game entering the fourth quarter.
If it wasn't for several big saves by Endicott goalie Eric Hagarty (Sudbury, Mass.) the Gulls may have found themselves with their backs against the wall. However the junior netminder stood tall in the final frame, making four saves in the closing quarter. The strong play on the defensive end translated into offensive success, as the Gulls closed the game on a three-goal run. Nick Cosco and Brad Lipkvich each notched their second of the game, while Jonathan Prentice (Chelmsford, Mass.) closed out the scoring with a pretty top-shelf goal to make it an 8-3 final.
Eric Hagarty made 13 saves in the win, while Nick Cosco ended the day with two goals and two assists. The Hawks were paced by Dave Hurley's two goals and also got a pair of assists from Drew Smith. Roebuck made six saves in the loss.
Endicott welcomes a much needed week off as the Gulls begin preparation for conference rival and 10th-ranked Western New England College next weekend. Roger Williams will ring in the month of April as the Hawks travel to Springfield to meet the Golden Bears for a 5:00 p.m. start on April 1st.