BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's lacrosse team raced out to a comfortable lead against CCC foe Wentworth on Saturday afternoon by scoring the first nine goals of the game en route to a 16-3 victory over the Leopards.
The Gulls (7-4, 4-0 CCC) remained unbeaten in conference games this season and now look forward to their Tuesday evening contest against #12 Tufts in Medford. Endicott earned their second straight win and has won six out of their last seven games.
Wentworth (1-7, 0-4 CCC) dropped their fourth straight game against CCC opponents but saw junior goalie Jared Proulx (Nashua, N.H.) accumulate 21 saves between the pipes. Proulx came into the game ranked eighth amongst all NCAA Division III goalkeepers with an average of 14.67 saves per game.
Seven different Endicott players recorded two goals in the game including senior midfielder Brendan Eppley (Darien, Conn.) who totaled five points on two goals and three assists. Eppley continues to lead Endicott with 28 points on the season.
Eppley helped Endicott storm out to an early two goal advantage within the two minutes of the game as he assisted on the game's first goal, scored by midfielder Jon Thanas (Cumberland, R.I.) at 13:56, and followed 32 seconds later with his first tally off a pass from freshman Harrison Cotter (Lordship, Conn.). Both goals were on man-up opportunities.
After Thanas scored his second goal of the game, from Joshua Tordik (Sayville, N.Y.), to make it 3-0, Eppley found the back of the net once again for his 14th goal of the season. Junior Peter Erickson (Yarmouth, Maine) assisted on the play.
Endicott went to lead 9-0 before Wentworth broke their scoreless streak as junior Pat Helfrich (North Andover, Mass.) caught a pass from sophomore Chris Kipp (Scarborough, Maine) and beat the Gulls goalie. It was Helfrich's first goal of the season.
Leading 9-1 going into the second half, the Blue and Green went on another run, scoring six straight before the Leopards were able to answer. Cotter and fellow freshman Jeremy Morgan (Ridge, N.Y.) each scored twice during this stretch. Senior Colin Prescott (Norwalk, Conn.) would also score the second of his two goals off Eppley's third assist of the game.
Freshman Dillon Lynch (Southwick, Mass.) and junior Greg Ordway (Freeport, Maine) generated the fourth quarter offense for Wentworth, putting in their final two goals of the game.
Assists on those goals went to Helfrich and Justin Connors (Richboro, Pa.).
Proulx led all players with eight groundballs. Sam Ozycz (Cheshire, Conn.), Endicott's junior faceoff man, scooped seven groundballs to lead the home team after winning 11-of-15 faceoff attempts. Ozycz also scored in this game, taking just five seconds after winning a faceoff to race down the field at score.
Defensively for Endicott, sophomore midfielder Christopher Summers (Manchester, United Kingdom) had a game-high two caused turnovers.
Junior goalie Tom Burke (Sudbury, Mass.) improved to 7-4 after playing the first half and making one save while allowing just one goal. Sophomore Conley Cummings (Simsbury, Conn.) came on in relief and had four saves, allowing one goal in 23 game minutes.
Both teams were strong clearing the ball out of the defensive zone with Endicott going 16-for-18 and Wentworth clearing the ball 14 out of 17 attempts.
(Release Courtesy of Endicott Sports Information)
