Gulls Victorious in Top 10 Showdown

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's lacrosse team hosted a top 10 matchup on Tuesday evening with #10 Lynchburg. Highlighted by five goals apiece from sophomore Colin Bannon (Westport, Conn.) and senior Kyle Weber (West Hartford, Conn.), #6 Endicott lifted to a 15-13 victory. The Gulls remain undefeated at 5-0 (1-0 CCC) while the Hornets fall to 2-2 (0-0 ODAC).

The Blue and Green will continue their stretch of ranked opponents as they travel to #9 Amherst on Friday, March 13^th for a 6:00 p.m. matchup. Endicott will enter the matchup looking to claim their third victory over Amherst in their 10^th meeting. Lynchburg will take the field on Saturday, March 14^th as they begin conference play on the road at Guilford for a 5:00 p.m. faceoff.

Bannon led both sides with his eight points adding three assists to his five goals while for the Hornets, junior Austin Stewart (Reisterstown, Md.) kept the game tight throughout the second half with his six goals and one assist. On the defensive end junior goalkeeper Cameron Bell (Falmouth, Maine) posted 13 saves in the victory while senior Ian Knechtle (New Canaan, Conn.) caused three turnovers while picking up six groundballs.

The first half was controlled by the Blue and Green as they outscored the Hornets 7-3. In the first quarter the Gulls took a 5-1 advantage scoring five consecutive goals led by three from Bannon. In the opening six minutes of play the sophomore found the back of the net twice while senior Jonathan Morgan (Lake Panamoka, N.Y.) recorded his lone goal of the night at the 10:21 mark.

With 5:33 left in the quarter Weber posted his first goal of the night on a man-up opportunity with help from senior Joshua Tordik (Sayville, N.Y.) to take the 4-0 lead. Bannon would hit one more in the quarter while Lynchburg broke the scoring spree as Stewart notched a goal to keep the Hornets within four.

In the second quarter the nationally ranked opponents went goal for goal as Tordik and Weber tallied goals for the Gulls while senior Todd Galvin (Whitman, Mass.) and junior Aaron Murphy (Downingtown, Pa.) would answer back to end the half with a 7-3 score.

In the second half, Lynchburg was hungry to catch back up on the scoreboard as they outscored Endicott 5-1 in the third quarter. Glavin notched his second goal of the night while Weber went back to back to give the Gulls a 9-4 edge. However, Stewart brought the Hornets back within reach after securing an impressive four straight unanswered goals to make it a 9-8 score by the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter was the closest of the night as both sides battled for possession. The Hornets earned their first tie of the evening at the 12:45 mark as junior Chris Cornelius (Potomac, Md.) made his way to goal for the 9-9 stalemate. This week's Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Offensive Player of the Week, senior Nick Pinciaro (Beverly, Mass.) would answer back 39 seconds later with his first tally of the night with help from Bannon to take the one goal advantage.

However, Cornelius and Murphy went back to back for the Hornets to give Lynchburg their first lead of the night at 11-10 with 10:05 remaining in regulation. The lead would be the last for the Lynchburg as the Blue and Green rallied with three straight goals to take a 13-11 lead with less than six minutes remaining in the game. The first two came from Bannon and sophomore Will Jennings (Danvers, Mass.) while faceoff man, sophomore Tommy Hughes (Coram, N.Y.) found the back of the net for the first time this season after controlling the faceoff and ripping a shot from the top to beat junior goalkeeper Chris Hawley (Raleigh, N.C.).

The Hornets would earn two more goals on the evening but the goal hungry Gulls hit two more in a two minute span to secure the 15-13 victory. Bell walked away with 13 saves on the night while his counterpart Hawley made 10 stops in the loss.