Second Half Rally Lifts Gulls Over Colonels

MILTON, Mass. – The Endicott men's soccer team traveled to Curry College on Saturday afternoon for an early day Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) matchup. Juniors Abdulla Al Khalifa (Riffa, Bahrain) and Connor Gibbs (Westborough, Mass.) each tallied goals for Endicott as they shutout Curry 2-0. Endicott now moves to 8-7, (3-3 CCC) while the Colonels fall to 6-5-3, (2-3-2 CCC).

The first frame was controlled by the Blue and Green as they outshot the Colonels 15-7. Sophomore Sebastian Rozo (Stamford, Conn.) worked hard in the final third keeping senior goalkeeper Nick Barber (Pittsfield, Mass.) busy ripping four shots on goal.

In a three minute period the Gulls had four scoring opportunities in the frame. The first came from senior Alex Elia (Somers, Conn.) as he sent a shot towards goal but Barber was able to come up with the save. 23 seconds later Rozo attempted to find the back of the net blasting a shot at goal but again Barber kept them off the board. The Gulls were then awarded two consecutive corner kicks where Rozo tried to take advantage of the scoring opportunity again Barber stood in his way.

Sophomore goalkeeper Austin Peluso (Farmington, Conn.) and his defensive unit worked hard to keep the Colonels out of dangerous territory as they only allowed two shots on goal in the frame, where Peluso was able to make the saves.

Both squads worked to get a tally on the board, but the half ended in a stalemate.

The Gulls picked up right where they left off from the first frame with 11 shots in the second. At 59:25 the Colonels kept Peluso on his toes as junior Jonathan Hurley (Foxboro, Mass.) ripped a shot at net but Peluso was able to make the stop to keep the match scoreless.

20 seconds later Al Khalifa, who has been showing a scoring pattern for the Gulls, scored the first goal of the game and his 5^th on the season. He received a nice feed from Elia and blasted it into the back of the net to take the 1-0 lead.

The goal must have sent a spark through Blue and Green because six minutes later Gibbs recorded his second goal of the season after he controlled a pass from senior Brett Longobucco (Torrington, Conn.) and slipped the ball past Barber to increase the lead to two.

The two goals only made Endicott hungry for more as they continued to pressure the Colonels defense. At 70:09 senior Bobby Durben (Stow, Mass.) was awarded a corner kick and sent a direct shot towards to top corner but Barber was able to control the ball and stop the play.

The Gibbs goal would be the last from either squad as the Gulls blanked the Colonels 2-0. Peluso came out of the contest with seven saves while his counterpart Barber made an impressive 13 on the day.

Endicott will look ahead Wednesday, October 23rd as they host CCC opponent Nichols at 4:00 p.m. Curry will also play on Wednesday when they travel to Roger Williams for a 7:00 p.m. game under the lights.