BEVERLY, Mass. – Freshman Will Jennings (Danvers, Mass.) and junior Mitchell Tapley (Falmouth, Maine) pieced together nine of Endicott's 11 goals in the Gulls' 11-7 Commonwealth Coast Conference men's lacrosse triumph over Wentworth Institute of Technology Saturday afternoon at Hempstead Stadium.
With the win, Endicott improves to 5-8overall and 4-1 in CCC play, while the Leopards fall to 3-10 (1-4).
Senior Alec Paradis (Pelham, N.H.) set up senior Nick Parent (Windham, N.H.) just three minutes into the first quarter to help Wentworth snag the 1-0 lead over Endicott. A minute later, the Gulls squared the game at 1-1 on a goal by Jennings. Jennings scored the go-ahead marker, his second of the game, just 18 seconds later to put Endicott up 2-1. Through the remaining nine minutes of the first, the Gulls tallied two more goals to give them 4-1 edge at the end of the quarter.
At the 10:25 mark of the second, freshman Jason Buck (Manlius, N.Y.) helped cut Endicott's lead in half at 4-2, however, Jennings followed up with two more goals that helped lift the Gulls to a 6-2 advantage. With a minute left in the half, Tapley tacked on additional two goals to give Endicott a six-goal cushion at 8-2 to conclude the second.
The Gulls wasted no time to begin the third and continued to tack onto their lead over the Leopards thanks to two goals from Tapley. Junior Peter Field, Jr. (Hampstead, N.H.) set up Tapley for his third marker of the game to propel Endicott to a 9-2 lead and put the Gulls on top 10-2 with a marker at 4:07. Jennings wrapped up the third with his fifth goal of the game to extend Endicott's lead to 11-2 at the end of three.
A Gulls' scoreless fourth quarter allowed Wentworth to surge a comeback. Senior Tim Parlato (Needham, Mass.) tallied the first two Leopards' goal of the fourth just 50 seconds apart to cut the once commanding 11-2 Gulls lead down to 11-4. Parlato was followed up by three consecutive goals from Paradis that pushed the score to 11-7 with 2:23 remaining in regulation, but the comeback fell short as Endicott sealed the 11-7 victory.
Jennings and Tapley paced the Gulls' offense with a combined nine goals and two assists. Sophomore Tommy Hughes (Coram, N.Y.) scooped up 10 ground balls, while senior Matthew Holzinger (Fairfield, Conn.) caused three turnovers. Junior Cameron Bell (Falmouth, Maine) saved 17 shots in the win.
Paradis tallied three goals, two assists and three caused turnovers. Parlato followed up with two goals, while Parent scored a goal, one assists with four ground balls and three caused turnovers. Freshman Peter Andersson (Madison, N.J.) also scooped up four ground balls.
Sophomores Adam Dufault (Lexington, Mass.) and Scott Boucher (Salisbury, N.H.) split time in the net. Dufault was tagged with the loss and saved eight shots through the first half, while Boucher had three saves through the second.
Endicott held the edge in shots (37-30), ground balls (41-30) and face-offs (17-5). Wentworth went 1-for-8 in man-up situations, while Endicott went 1-for-7.
Both Wentworth and Endicott are in action on Wednesday. Wentworth heads to Gordon at 7:00 p.m., while Endicott travels to Nichols at 4:00 p.m.
