Gulls Hang Tight with Golden Bears; Slobotzky Nets Sixth of the Season

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Endicott men's soccer team traveled to Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) opponent, Western New England on Saturday morning. After 110 minutes of play and a late second half goal by junior Diego Slobotzky (Mexico City, Mexico) the Gulls tied with the CCC foe 1-1 after two overtime periods. Endicott improves to 6-6-2 (1-2-2 CCC) while the Golden Bears sit at 7-6-2 (1-3-1 CCC).

Endicott will see action next on Saturday, October 18^th as they host Salve Regina for a CCC matchup at 4:00 p.m. at Endicott Stadium. The Golden Bears will play next on Wednesday, October 15^th as they travel to non-conference opponent Worcester State at 7:00 p.m.

The first half was a battle as they Gulls outshot the Golden Bears 10-7. In the opening minutes of the half Western New England worked senior goalkeeper Alex Jorge (Billerica, Mass.) forcing him to make two big saves. At 13:22 senior Zachary Coopee (Hampden, Mass.) sent a header to goal but Jorge was able to make the save. 20 seconds later sophomore Ryan Dickenson (South Hadley, Mass.) blasted a shot at goal but again Jorge was able to make the stop to keep the Golden Bears off the board.

After 20 minutes of battling in the midfield, junior Abdulla Al Khalifa (Riffa, Bahrain) got a huge opportunity at goal after he headed the ball to the top corner but sophomore goalkeeper Kevin Strobel (Rockland, Mass.) made the save to stop the scoring opportunity.

Minutes later the Gulls kept firing as junior Kyle Bisceglia (New Boston, N.H.) and Shintaroh Itoh (Tokyo, Japan) both send shots to goal that were blocked out of play. In the final minutes of the half Al Khalifa earned two corner kick opportunities that turned into shots but the strong Golden Bear defense was able to stop both plays to end the first half in a stalemate.

The second half posted a stronger game for both sides again as the Gulls outshot the Golden Bears 13-5. To start off the half both sides were pulling opportunities in their respective final thirds. Itoh had a huge shot in the 51^st minute but Strobel was able to make the save. Five minutes later freshman Logan Pingree (Middletown, Conn.) had a great opportunity for the Golden Bears as he ripped a shot at goal but Jorge was able to come in and making the big save to keep the game scoreless.

In the 66^th minute Western New England got the first tally of the game after freshman Jordan Martins (Ludlow, Mass.) collected a pass from sophomore Scott Trautwein (Pequannock, N.J.) to record his second goal of the season.

Being down by one the Blue and Green were on high alert taking every opportunity they could with huge efforts by all. After numerous opportunities, in the final minutes of regulation Slobotzky buried the ball into the back of the net to secure his sixth goal of the season and to make it a tie game. In the final seconds of the half Itoh had a great chance to give the Gulls the victory after he headed the ball to goal but Strobel made the stop to force extra time.

Both series of extra time posed little chances for either side. After 110 minutes of play the whistle blew and the game was declared a tie a 1-1 in conference play.

Jorge was stealthy in net with his five saves while his counterpart Strobel walked away with four.