Endicott advances into NCAA Second Round with 6-5 win over Springfield

Boxscore

Beverly, Mass. – The Endicott men’s lacrosse team use a nine save first half effort by sophomore goalie Mike Klein (Darien, Conn.), scored five of the first six goals of the game, and held off a fourth quarter rally by the Pride en route to a 6-5 preliminary round victory in the NCAA Division III Men’s Lacrosse Tournament. 

 

Gulls senior midfielder Chris Cotter (Lordship, Conn.) netted three goals, including the first two tallies of the game and what would prove to be the game-winner with 10:12 to go in the final period to lead the Endicott offense. 

 

Springfield’s junior attacker Parker Geane (Easton, Conn.) was the catalyst in the visiting team’s attempted comeback late in the fourth quarter, beating the Endicott goalie twice with an unassisted goal with 1:06 to go and another with just 18 seconds remaining with an assist to senior midfielder Shawn Runyon (Fairport, N.Y.) to cap of the scoring.   

 

Defensively for the Gulls (16-4), senior defensemen Andrew Pochebit (Portland, Maine) and Robert Crossett (Katonah, N.Y.) each caused three turnovers with Crossett adding a game-high seven groundballs.  In net, Klein made a total of 12 saves to improve his season record to 14-3.

 

The Springfield (11-6) was equally as stringent, causing 17 Endicott turnovers with defenseman Vinny Senatore (Mahopac, N.Y.) recording a team-high four.  Tim Cimini (West Hartford, Conn.) led the Pride with six groundballs with Mike Delia (Wading River, N.Y.) adding four.  In the cage for Springfield, freshman goalie Connor Nash (Burnt Hills, N.Y.) stopped 14 Endicott shots on goal, including 10 in the second half to keep his squad in the game.  Nash fell to 8-5 on the season. 

 

Cotter opened up the scoring just 38 seconds into the game with an unassisted goal to put Endicott up 1-0.  Both teams remained scoreless until the 3:37 mark of the first quarter when Cotter once again took the ball himself and beat the goalie to increase the Endicott lead to two. 

 

Just over a minute and a half into the second quarter, Gulls pushed their lead to 3-0 on an unassisted goal by sophomore attacker Connor McCormack (Norwalk, Conn.), his team-leading 41^st goal of the season.  Springfield got on the board with 8:01 on the clock as junior midfielder Matt Hudson (Centereach, N.Y.) scored his third goal of the year to make it 3-1 in favor of the home team.  The final goal of the half came with just 13 ticks remaining as Endicott’s junior midfielder Brendan Eppley (Darien, Conn.) gave the Gulls a 4-1 halftime advantage. 

 

The second half saw the Pride outscore the goals 2-1 in both the third and fourth quarters to get back in the game.  McCormack netted his second goal of the game, assisted by junior midfielder Connor Prescott (Norwalk, Conn.), to push the score to 5-1 Endicott, but Springfield responded with back-to-back goals to trim the lead down to three.  Senior midfielder Jarrid Johnson (Orlando, Fla.) put in his 46^th goal of the season after a lead pass from junior attacker Harry Bernstein (Westfield, N.J.).  Bernstein followed with a goal of his own, this time with an assist to Delia. 

 

As they did in the other three quarters, Endicott scored the first goal of the fourth period as Cotter put in his 37^th goal of 2011 to complete the hat trick.  Senior attacker Jack Curtis (Chelmsford, Mass.) registered the assist.  Geane jumpstarted the Pride’s late fourth quarter rally, but Springfield would come up short with a 6-5 loss. 

 

Endicott now moves on to face Salisbury University, the top-ranked team in the country, in the second round of the NCAA Division III Men’s Lacrosse Tournament.  The game will be played on Saturday, May 14^th down in Salibury, Maryland at a time to be determined.  Salisbury is 17-1 on the season and earned a bye through the first round of the tournament.