Gulls Roll to 10th Straight CCC Championship Appearance after Semifinals Victory over Gordon

2014 CCC Women's Lacrosse Tournament Interactive Bracket

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's lacrosse team hosted cross-town rival Gordon on Wednesday afternoon for the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Semifinal round. Co-Offensive Player of the Year, senior Callie Murphy (Woburn, Mass.) posted six points to help pave the way for a Gulls 15-7 victory. Endicott improves to 13-3 (7-1 CCC) while the Fighting Scots fall to 12-5 (6-2).

With the win the Blue and Green will move on to the programs 10th consecutive conference championship. In the other semifinal match today, #4 Roger Williams (11-7, 5-3) upset #1 Western New England (17-1, 8-0) which brings the CCC Championship to Endicott Stadium on Saturday, May 3^rd. Endicott has taken eight straight conference titles and will look to raise their ninth banner this weekend.

Along with Murphy's six point effort, CCC Rookie of the Year, Emily Whitney (Rye, N.H.) followed with four goals and an assist while freshman Meghan Lennon (Canton, Mass.), junior Ellie Clayman (Beverly, Mass.) and Katie Tierney (South Hadley, Mass.) each posted two. Juniors Kirsten Thor (Longmeadow, Mass.) and Siri Mason (Williamstown, Mass.) also tallied a goal apiece. Working hard on defense the Gulls unit earned 17 groundballs to Gordon's 9.

The Blue and Green controlled the tempo for the entire 60 minutes of play. In the first half Endicott outscored the Scots 6-2 and continued their success in the second leading 9-5.

In the first half the Fighting Scots got on the board first as senior Jane Dietrich (West Hartford, Mass.) tallied her 15^th goal on the season in the opening minute. Endicott fought back scoring four straight goals, two from Whitney and one from both Lennon and Mason.

Gordon's leading scorer, senior Anna Blomberg (Simsbury, Conn.) answered back with her 46^th goal of the season to make it a 4-2 score in Gulls favor. To wrap up the half Thor slipped the ball past the CCC leading goalkeeper, senior Danielle Maguire (Braintree, Mass.) with help from Murphy to take a three goal lead. One minute later Whitney posted her third goal of the half to mark her 45^th of the season to end the half on top 6-2.

In the second half Murphy led with three goals followed by two from both Clayman and Tierney. Tierney opened up the half with a free position goal two minutes in to take a 7-2 lead which led to five consecutive Endicott goals. Three minutes later Lennon recorded her second goal of the game for her 21^st on the season.  Tierney nabbed her second at the 24:10 mark while Murphy ended the scoring spree with back to back goals to give the Blue and Green an 11-2 lead.

Finally the Fighting Scots got on the board in the second half as Blomberg made a combo play with sophomore Jessica Castelline (Concord, Mass.) to make it an eight goal game. Clayman answered back bumping the lead back to nine at the 14:44 mark. Again Gordon would not back down as senior Stephanie Fitzgerald (Groveland, Mass.) found the back of the net.

Clayman and Murphy increased the lead to 10 scoring back to back goals with 11:46 remaining in the game. Gordon was able to sneak two more goals in the final eight minutes of play but it was not enough as the Gulls took the 15-7 triumph.

Senior goalkeeper Ryan Socolow (Westford, Mass.) was solid in net for the entire 60 minutes posting eight saves while improving to 13-3 on the season.