Offensive Attack Leads Gulls to Home Opener Victory

BEVERLY, Mass. – Seven different players scored for Endicott as they upended Wellesley College 7-1 on Wednesday night in the home opener of their 2012 women's soccer season.

The Gulls, who outshot their opponents 18-6 and took a 3-0 lead into the halftime break, improved to 2-0 on the young campaign, while Wellesley falls to 0-2-1.

First years Leeann Card (Paxton, Mass.) and Becca Gustine (East Hampton, Conn.) both tallied in the second half and each have now scored goals in their first two collegiate games.

Head Coach Jodi Kenyon was thrilled with the balance of scoring and the contributions by the entire group in their home opener. "I don't ever remember having seven different goal scorers in a game. It was one of the finest performances by a team that I've ever coached," said Kenyon, now in her eighth season on the Endicott bench. "This is a special group."

Junior Heather Moody (Dunstable, Mass.) opened the scoring just under two minutes into the game when she received the ball from Nicole Fournier (Milford, Mass.) and slotted it past Wellesley goalkeeper Claire Cerda (Coral Gables, Fla.) for her first goal of 2012.

Twelve minutes later, a strange goal gifted Endicott a 2-0 advantage when Moody's service into the box bounced over Cerda's head and fell to striker Lexi Dussi (Boxford, Mass.), who shepherded it over the goal line. Chelsea Garlock (Meriden, Conn.) netted her second goal of the year in the 32^nd minute to cap the first half tallies.

The visiting Blue drew back a goal on an unassisted strike by Chelsea-Ann Patry (Warrenton, Va.). Patry scored the first goal of the year for Wellesley in the 51^st minute when she collected the rebound and found an open net after Endicott goalie Katie Donnelly (Madison, Conn.) had come out to make a stellar save on a breakaway attempt.

Fournier collected her first goal of the year with a nice turn-around shot that beat Cerda in the 64^th minute, and sophomore Hannah Schneidenbach (Charlestown, R.I.) capped the scoring by sliding the ball inside the right post on a centering pass from Madison Missinne (Ridgefield, Conn.) eight minutes from full time.

Donnelly and Natalie Wyrsch (Dover, N.H.) each played goal for a half and made two saves apiece, with the lone goal coming against the sophomore Donnelly. The Gulls had nine shots on goal, forcing two saves out of Cerda. Endicott also held a slim 201 advantage in corner kicks.

Endicott will hit the road this weekend to play a tournament at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. The Gulls will fast the host Union on Saturday at 1:00 pm and then will battle Husson Sunday afternoon at 3.

Wellesley will return home looking for their first victory of 2012 at a Saturday date with Haverford (1:00 pm).