Gulls Edged By Babson, 11-10, In Regular-Season Finale

BABSON PARK, Mass. ­– The Endicott women's lacrosse team was edged out in the final game of the regular season in a non-conference affair at Babson College, 11-10, Saturday afternoon at MacDowell field in a game rescheduled from March 11th.

Endicott jumped out to an early 3-1 lead before the Green and White responded with six of the game's next seven goals and the Beavers headed in the break with an 8-5 advantage at the half.

After Babson went up 9-6 just several minutes into the second stanza, Endicott responded with four of the next five goals though, including three by All-CCC First Team senior midfielder Emily Whitney (Rye, N.H.), to pull even at 10-10 with 18:11 left.

Senior Katie McKenna (Sandwich, Mass.) broke a 10-10 tie to notch the eventual game-winning goal with 17:34 remaining in the game.

Despite outscoring the hosts 5-3 in the second half, the Gulls were unable to put a shot on cage over the final 17 minutes and saw their nine-game win streak get snapped in the narrow defeat.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• The Gulls are 3-2 against NEWMAC opponents this season.
• The Commonwealth Coast Conference's (CCC) Defensive Player of the Year in sophomore goalkeeper Bella Rino (Northborough, Mass.) absorbed her first career defeat in cage (8-1) as she made 10+ saves for the third time this season.
• Whitney, CCC Rookie of the Year Jennifer Lacroix (Wrentham, Mass.) and classmate Meghan Dutchyshyn (Cheshire, Conn.) all scored three times for the Gulls.
• All-CCC First Team senior Meghan Lennon (Canton, Mass.) dished out a career-high five assists and All-CCC Second Team sophomore Ali Campbell (Lakeville, Mass.) caused a team-high three turnovers. 

FOR THE FOES

• Babson has won eight of its last nine games.
• Senior Francesca Giovanucci (Easton, Mass.) led all student-athletes with four goals and one assist.
• Senior Stevie Burger (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and first-year Olivia Phelan (Wilton, Conn.) combined to make one save for the Green and White as Burger improved to 5-2 on the season.
• The Beavers are now 4-3 this season in contests decided by a single goal.
• The Beavers finished with the advantage in shots (24-18), draw controls (15-8) and ground balls (12-9), and converted 14-of-17 clearing opportunities.

NOTES

• The Gulls are 3-10 all-time against Babson dating back prior to the 2004 season.
• The Beavers won the most recent meeting before today, 14-8, on March 26, 2016 in Beverly, Mass.

WHAT'S NEXT

No. 1 seed Endicott (12-4) will host No. 5 seed Gordon  in the CCC Semifinals on Wednesday, May 3 at 4:00 p.m.

Babson (11-5) will take on Wellesley in the NEWMAC Semifinals on Saturday, May 6 at a time to be determined later.  

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(Photo Credit - David Le)