Gordon Hands EC a First Round Exit
Oct. 31, 2006
BEVERLY, MA - The Endicott College men's soccer team was eliminated from the Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament Tuesday night after a tough 1-0 loss to rivals Gordon College.
The Fighting Scots broke a scoreless tie when Keith Lumpp (Silver Lake, OH) headed a ball from David McMullen (Silver Lake, OH) past Endicott goalkeeper Cameron Twiss (Reading, MA/Bishop Fenwick) in the 78th minute. Lumpp's goal came after a number of near misses and shots that hit the cross bar and posts as Gordon took charge of the game for much of the second half.
The two teams played even for much of the game, as their fourth and fifth seeding would suggest. However after being out shot in the first half the Fighting Scots out shot the Gulls 9-4 in the second half to keep the pressure on the EC defense.
Endicott got strong performances from Eric Booth (Belchertown, MA/Belchertown) and Chris Croteau (Groveland, MA/Pentucket) who anchored a great effort by EC's backline. The duo also got involved in the offense as they both managed two shots. Joe Scarbo (Milton, MA/Milton) played a gutsy game in the midfield, winning a number of tough balls and challenging countless others.
Gordon took the late lead, deflating the Gulls for a few minutes but EC rallied and kept the pressure on until the final seconds of the game. Michael DeNuzzo (Guilford, CT/Guilford) and Josh Golden (Narragansett, RI/Narragansett) had fans on their feet as they tried to find a way to tie the game in the final minutes.
Golden had two shots stopped by Fighting Scot goalkeeper Brian Schilling (Goffstown, NH) and DeNuzzo served a number of crosses into the middle of Gordon's penalty area franticly trying to find an equalizer. Twiss also played well between the pipes for EC, making six saves in the loss.
The loss eliminates the Gulls from the CCC Tournament, ending their season at 8-10 and snapping a six game winning streak. EC lost just two games in its final nine, both losses coming against Gordon. The Gulls now wait to hear whether or not they will receive an ECAC Tournament bid. The Fighting Scots advance to the CCC Semifinals with the win and will play top seeded Roger Williams on November 2.