Whitney's Six Points Leads Gulls to Victory over Nichols

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's lacrosse team hosted Nichols on Saturday afternoon for a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) matchup. Followed behind a game-high five goals and one assist from sophomore Emily Whitney (Rye, N.H.) the Gulls lifted to a tight 13-10 victory. Endicott is now 15-0 all-time with the Bison as they improve to 8-4 (4-1 CCC) while Nichols falls to 4-8 (2-4 CCC).

Endicott will take the field next on Tuesday, April 14^th as they travel to cross-town rival Gordon for a 4:00 p.m. draw. The Bison will travel to non-conference foe Emmanuel on Monday, April 13^th for a 7:00 p.m. start.

Following behind Whitney, senior Ellie Clayman (Beverly, Mass.) notched three goals and one assist while freshman Erin McCarthy (Old Lyme, Conn.) recorded two. Senior Kirsten Thor (Longmeadow, Mass.), and sophomore duo, Emily Cutting (Ferrisburgh, Vt.) and Meghan Lennon (Canton, Mass.) each tallied one in the victory.

For the Bison senior Erica Antonison (Alberston, N.Y.) lead with three goals while senior Alyssa Bufis (Linden, N.J.), freshman Lindsay O'Connell (Danvers, Mass.) and sophomore Brooke Marion (South Hadley, Mass.) followed with two.

On the defensive end Lennon and Cutting each held a game-high three caused turnovers while Clayman picked up four groundballs. For the Bison senior Grace Murphy (Montclair, Va.) was stealthy off the draw recording a game-high of four. With the help of Murphy Nichols was able to edge the Gulls 13-12 off the draw while Endicott went 15-of-21 on clears to the 12-of-14 for the Bison.

The first half was an absolute battle as the Blue and Green took just an 8-6 lead heading into halftime. Endicott started off the half with three straight goals from McCarthy, Clayman and Whitney in a four minute span. Nichols midfielder, Olivia Morawski (Fairfield, Conn.) broke the scoring spree with her lone goal of the day for the 3-1 score at 20:37.

After McCarthy netted her second goal of the day, the Bison went on to score five straight unanswered goals to take a 6-4 lead at the 13:48 mark. During the scoring spree Bufis found the back of the net twice while Marion took advantage of a man-up opportunity. The Gulls would counter back with force as they scored four straight goals to close out the half as Thor, and Whitney put up one with Clayman notching two for the 8-6 score.

The second half was a bit quieter for both sides with Endicott just outscoring the Bison 5-4, led by three from Whitney. Nichols started the half with a man-up goal by O'Connell to make it a one goal game at the 26:34 mark. Endicott would respond with three straight goals from Cutting, Whitney and Lennon to kick the lead up to 11-7.

At 12:28 the Bison scored back to back goals to get within two, but Whitney would follow with a pair of goals at 6:40 and 2:27 to secure the victory. Antonison would record one more goal for Nichols at 2:01 but it would not be enough as Endicott pulled away with the 13-10 triumph.

Sophomore goalkeeper Maura Grady (Marblehead, Mass.) made 10 stops on 20 shots in the victory while her counterpart, sophomore Katherine Cotton (Kennebunk, Maine) made seven stops in the loss.