Gulls Defeat Wheaton; Whitney Leads with Four Goals

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's lacrosse team hosted Wheaton College on Saturday afternoon for a non-conference matchup. The meeting between the two was the first since 2004. Freshman Emily Whitney (Rye, N.H.) tallied four goals in the game to help lift the Gulls to a 12-9 victory which marked the first win against the Lyons in their five meetings in program history. Endicott improves to 3-1 (0-0 CCC) while the Lyons fall to 2-3 (0-0 NEWMAC).

The first half was a battle but the Blue and Green took the 7-5 advantage entering halftime. Whitney along with fellow rookie Meghan Lennon (Canton, Mass.) posted two goals apiece in the half while senior Callie Murphy (Woburn, Mass.) earned two assists.

To start off the scoring Wheaton scored two straight goals to try and control the tempo of the match. The first came from sophomore Jenna Tewksbury (Concord, N.H.) while the second goal was awarded to junior Melanie Sharick (Amherst, Mass.), on the goals sophomore Allie Bush (Kennebunk, Maine) earned the assists.

19 seconds after the second Lyons goal, junior Ellie Clayman, who currently leads the team in goals, got the Gulls on the board and started a seven goal scoring streak for Endicott, after she brought the ball down the field off a nice draw control by Murphy to make it a 2-1 game. Seven minutes later Lennon posted her first goal of the game and her fifth on the season at the 20:56 mark.

Two minutes later is was junior Kirsten Thor's (Longmeadow, Mass.) turn to find the back of the net as she gave Endicott the 3-2 lead after nailing a free position shot past junior goalkeeper Katy Ananian (Belmont, Mass.).  Following Thor's goal Whitney hit a free position shot of her own while Murphy and Lennon both found the back of the net. At the 10:28 mark Whitney ended the scoring spree as she scored her eighth goal of the season off an assist from Murphy.

Finally at the 9:26 mark the Lyons woke up and posted three goals to end the half down by just two goals. The first came from Tewsbury followed by senior Leila Mills (Brunswick, Maine) and sophomore Brooke Sabol (Landgrove, Vt.).

The second half was just as close as the first as Blue and Green just edged the Lyons on the scoreboard 5-4. To start off the half Wheaton's Sabol worked to get her team fired up as she hit back to back goals to make it a tie game early in the half.

Whitney answered back with a free position goal but junior Kelsie Jenquine (Brunswick, Maine) tied the game back up as she scored her first goal of the season. Whitney was not over however as she came back again with help from junior Siri Mason (Williamstown, Mass.) to take back control of the game.

In the final 10 minutes of the game Tewksbury worked to get the Lyons back in the game with a free position goal she was able to slip past senior goalkeeper Ryan Socolow (Westford, Mass.) but Clayman and Lennon each tallied late goals to secure the 12-9 victory.

Socolow finished the game with four saves while Ananian took the loss with five. Both Murphy and senior Rachel Campos (Shrewsbury, Mass.) tabbed four draw controls while Murphy played hard defense leading with three caused turnovers followed by Mason who led with four ground balls.

The Gulls wrapped up their home game stretch and will hit the road for the first time this season as they travel to Bates on Wednesday, March 19^th at 4:30 p.m. before they start conference play on the 22^nd when they travel to Roger Williams. The Lyons will pick back up on Tuesday, March 18^th when they travel to Bridgewater State for a non-conference matchup at 7:00 p.m.