Whitney's Hat Trick Not Enough As Gulls Fall, 10-8, To RPI

CLERMONT, Fla. ­– The Endicott women's lacrosse team fell, 10-8, to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in non-conference action during Spring Break on Monday morning at the National Training Center (NTC) Field as junior midfielder Emily Whitney (Rye, N.H.) netted a hat trick for the Gulls in the loss.

RPI opened the game with the first two goals, before Endicott answered back with two goals of its own to tie the game at 2-2 with 23:12 remaining in the first half.

The Engineers took a 5-2 lead at 12:22 in the first half with three straight goals, but the Gulls followed that up with a pair of free position goals from Whitney and sophomore attack Erin McCarthy (Old Lyme, Conn.) to head into halftime down 5-4.

The Gulls tied the game at 5-all on freshman midfielder Ali Campbell (Lakeville, Mass.) free-position goal just a few minutes into the second stanza.

With 9:51 remaining in regulation, freshman midfielder Michelle Bolger (Williston, Vt.) scored to give the Engineers an 8-6 advantage.

Endicott then stormed back to knot the score at eight apiece with 5:24 to play with strikes from McCarthy and Whitney again, but two straight unassisted goals by junior attack Sophie Hager (Northport, N.Y.) shut the door as RPI came away with a 10-8 win in the Sunshine State.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• RPI outscored Endicott, 5-4, in each of the two halves.
• RPI out-shot the Gulls, 22-14, but Endicott scored on 4-of-8 free-position shots, compared to the Engineers' 1-of-3.
• Whitney added one assist to go with her second consecutive game with a hat trick as she currently leads the team with nine goals.
• Campbell won a team-high two draw controls and tallied one goal.
• Freshman midfielder Jaime Balboni (Billerica, Mass.) extended her scoring streak to four straight games as she registered a one goal and one assist. 
• McCarthy also extended her scoring streak to four games with a pair a goals on the day.
• Sophomore defender Cassidy Merrill (Buxton, Maine) netted her first goal of the season.
• Sophomore attack Jess Glenn (Underhill, Vt.) added one assist in the effort.
• Junior midfielder Chelsea Burke (Georgetown, Mass.) tied for a game-high two caused turnovers.
• Senior captain/defender Brenna Shannon (Stratham, N.H.) scooped up a game-high four ground balls.
• Junior goalie Maura Grady (Marblehead, Mass.) stopped seven shots as she fell to 0-4 on the season.

FOR THE FOES

• Four student-athletes potted a pair of goals for the Engineers as Hager (2g), freshman midfielder Maddy Aslansan (Philadelphia, Pa.) (2 g, 1 a), senior captain Erin Delucca (East Lyme, Conn.) (2g), and sophomore attack Morgan Doyle (Syracuse, N.Y.) (2g) etched their names into the points tally.
• Freshman goalie Aleena Milinski (Beaver Falls, Pa.) improved to 3-0 on the season as she made three saves.
• Freshman midfielder Abbey Salvon (Longmeadow, Mass.) won a game-high six draw controls as RPI won 15 to Endicott's five.

NOTES

• This was the first-ever meeting between the two programs, as RPI now leads the all-time series, 1-0.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (0-4, 0-0 CCC) takes on Trinity, (Conn.) on Thursday, March 17 at 9:00 a.m., while RPI (3-1, 0-0 Liberty League) faces Westfield State University on Thursday, March 17 at 9:00 a.m. also  in Clermont, Fla. 

For the latest on Endicott Athletics, follow the Gulls on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.