Gulls Notch First Victory of 2015 in Home Opener

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's lacrosse team hosted Southern Maine on Saturday afternoon for their home opener. Followed by a game high nine points from sophomore Emily Whitney (Rye, N.H.) the Gulls soared to a 15-6 victory. Endicott claims their first victory of the season as they improve to 1-1 while the Huskies fall to 0-2. With the triumph the Gulls lift to 11-2 in home openers since 2003.

Endicott will take the field next a week from today on Saturday, March 14^th as they travel to Wheaton for a non-conference matchup at 1:00 p.m. Southern Maine will see the field next on Wednesday, March 11^th as they host Saint Joe's (Maine) for their home opener.

With her nine points, Whitney led both sides with seven goals and two assists while sophomore Meghan Lennon (Canton, Mass.) followed with four goals and two assists. On the opponent's side, the Huskies were led by a three point effort from senior Julia Pearl (Essex Junction, Vt.) with her three goals while goalkeeper, junior Caley Presby (Portland, Maine) made a game high 10 stops.

Both sides almost split the possession off draw controls with Endicott claiming 12 to the Huskies 11, led by a game high eight from Lennon. The Blue and Green did play stealthy defense recording 21 caused turnovers and holding Southern Maine to just 12 as Whitney led with five. Taking advantage of 50-50 balls was senior Kirsten Thor and sophomore goalkeeper Maura Grady who each picked up four for a game high.

The Blue and Green outscored the Huskies 9-4 in the first half, led by four goals and one assist from Whitney while Lennon and senior Ellie Clayman (Beverly, Mass.) each posted two. Whitney started the scoring early in the opening minutes with a pair of back to back goals with the first having help from Lennon. Southern Maine would answer back at the 26:42 mark as sophomore Sam Campobasso (Buxton, Maine) made a play to goal to beat Grady.

The one goal lead would not last for long as the Blue and Green went on a five goals scoring spree in just 11 minutes to take a 7-1 lead. Lennon, Clayman and Thor would each find the back of the net once while Whitney went for another back to back combo in the 11 minutes span.

To close out the half Pearl would tally two more goals for the Huskies while senior Nicole LaPlante (South Portland, Maine) would break the Gulls scoring spree to tally her first of the game. For the Blue and Green Lennon and Clayman each notched their second of the game to give Endicott the five-point lead entering halftime.

The second half was a bit slower than the first as Endicott outscored Southern Maine 6-2, led by three goals from Whitney, two from Lennon and one from senior Katie Tierney (South Hadley, Mass.). Southern Maine would start the half off with Pearls third straight Huskies goal on the opening draw to force a 9-5 score. Whitney would answer back by securing the lone free-position goal of the game three minutes later.

Junior Anh Nguyen (South Portland, Maine) would give the Huskies their final goal of the game at the 23:12 mark but the Gulls would answer back by controlling the rest of the half with five straight goals to secure the 15-6 victory.

Between the pipes, Grady secured her first victory in a Blue and Green uniform with her five stops with her counterpart Presby taking her second loss of the season with 10 saves.