Gulls Advance to CCC Semifinal; Whitney Tallies 100th Career Goal

2015 CCC Women's Lacrosse Interactive Bracket

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's lacrosse team hosted #6 Salve Regina on Saturday afternoon for the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Quarterfinals. Behind five points and her 100^th career goal from sophomore Emily Whitney (Rye, N.H.) the Gulls soared to a 14-7 triumph to advance to the CCC Semifinal round. #3 Endicott improves to 11-5 while #6 Salve Regina ends their CCC postseason run at 7-9.

Endicott will take the field next on Wednesday, April 29^th as they travel to #2 Roger Williams for the semifinals. The game time is currently TBA, check back on ECGulls.com for an update. The pair are not strangers to each other as last year the Gulls defeated the Hawks in the CCC Championship game off a buzzer beater to secure the programs ninth consecutive title. In their last meeting back on March 25^th the Hawks lifted to a 9-6 victory.

Behind the five points from Whitney, senior Kirsten Thor (Longmeadow, Mass.) posted a season-high three goals. Sophomores Meghan Lennon (Canton, Mass.), Emily Cutting and senior Ellie Clayman all posted two goals in the game while Cutting added two assists and one from Clayman. Also posting points in the victory was freshman Erin McCarthy (Old Lyme, Conn.) and senior Katie Tierney (South Hadley, Mass.).

For the Seahawks, senior Sarah Woods (East Lyme, Conn.) and freshman Katie Kline (Brookfield, Conn.) each led the Seahawks with three points registering two goals and one assist. Sophomore Kaitlin Gillespie (Haddam, Conn.) also found the back of the net twice in the tough loss.

Defensively, Lennon recorded a game-high four caused turnovers while goalkeeper Maura Grady improved to 11-5 with her seven save game before freshman Molly Lane (Durham, Maine) closed out the remaining seven minutes of the  with three stops. Their counterpart, junior Katie Jones (Derry, N.H.) posted an impressive 13 saves in the loss.

The first half was controlled by the Blue and Green as they outscored the Seahawks 8-4. The Gulls opened up the half with back to back goals from Thor with the help of Cutting and Clayman for the early 2-0 lead. Salve Regina would quickly respond scoring four straight goals to take the 4-2 advantage by the 19:04 mark. Woods started off the scoring spree with the help of senior Gina Tortorici (Deer Park, N.Y.) before Gillespie went back to back with Woods then closing out the four straight on a free position goal.

The Gulls would not let the lead last for long as they countered with six consecutive, unanswered goals to close out the half 8-4. During the scoring pattern, Clayman found the back of the net twice with Tierney, Lennon, Cutting and Whitney all scoring for the first time in the game.

In the second half the Gulls picked up their offensive game scoring six goals while holding Salve Regina to three. Lennon started off the half on the opening draw for her second goal of the day and the 9-4 lead. Kline would answer back three minutes later to make it a four-goal game, however the Blue and Green would pull away on the scoreboard with four straight goals for the 13-5 lead by the 9:22 mark.

Salve Regina would find the back of the net two more times before the end of the half but the Gulls were too far ahead and secured the 14-7 victory. The last goal of the day for Endicott was registered by Whitney, which marked as her career 100^th goal.