High Scoring First Half Leads Endicott to 4-3 Win Over Eastern Connecticut State

BEVERLY, Mass.- The Endicott women's soccer team hosted Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU) on Wednesday and earned a 4-3 win after a wild first half.  With the win, Endicott is now 5-5-1 (2-1-1 CCC) while ECSU falls to 7-3-1 (3-0-0 LEC).

The match would get off to an extremely quick and chaotic start as the Warriors jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 6:36 mark behind Emily Becher's (Brooklyn, Conn.) eighth of the season. The assist on the goal went to McKenzie Reimondo (Portland, Conn.), her third of the season. The duo would team up to extend the visitor's lead to 2-0 just six minutes later as Reimondo led Becher with a through ball that was then one-touched to give Becher her ninth goal of the year.

The Gulls would come roaring back, scoring four goals in the next seven and a half minutes to seize a lead that Endicott would never relinquish.  Emily Rodewald (Canton, Mass.) would start the offensive onslaught just 20 seconds after the second ECSU tally as she redirected a Paige Marinelli (Burlington, Conn.) cross to the left side of the goal that glanced off the inside of the post to close the gap to 2-1.

Two Paige Marinelli goals then sandwiched an Ashley Mueskes (Georgetown, Mass.) goal to close the Endicott scoring at four goals by the 20:24 mark of the first half. Marinelli's second of the match, which was also her fifth point after she assisted on Rodewald's goal, came off a beautiful cross from Laura Wysocki (Somers, Conn.) that she was able to slip passed the Warrior's keeper to make it 4-2 Endicott.

The only tally of the second half would come in the 59^th minute when Maggie Bodington (Stanford, Conn.) took a free kick from 40 yards out that found the head of Nikki Basilicato (Guilford, Conn.) to close the score at 4-3.

BEYOND THE BOX

• The Endicott win was the 301st win in program history as the 300th came on Saturday in the 3-1 Homecoming win over Eastern Nazarene.
• Marinelli has now posted career high point totals in back-to-back matches as on Saturday she tallied four after notching two goals in the team's 3-1 win over Eastern Nazarene before today posting five with two goals and an assist.
• The senior now has two or more points in her last three straight matches as she has totaled 11 points (4G, 3A). With four goals on the season, Marinelli has tied a single season high that she has previously accomplished in both her freshman and junior seasons.
• The goal by Ashley Mueskes was her fourth tally of the season as the senior continues to add to her career-best offensive year. Nine of her 19 career points have come this fall.
• Endicott keeper Caroline Armbruster (Stowe, Vt.) would make six saves in the win, her third highest save total of the season, as her record improved to 4-2-1. Of the six saves, two spectacular efforts were made to preserve the Endicott lead; first in the 30^th minute when she sprinted from her back line and dove towards the front edge of the box to cut off another Becher attempt, and later in the 85^th minute she was able to punch a Reimondo attempt over the cross bar that was launched on net from 40 yards out.

FOR THE FOES

• Becher continues her hot start to the season as she has now posted nine goals in just 10 matches. Last season, as a freshman, Becher scored 18 goals in 20 matches.
• For Reimondo, the two assists doubled her season total as she now has four to date. As a freshman last year, the Portland, Conn. native recorded one assist in 20 matches played.
• Sophomore Nikki Basilicato's goal was her second of the season and sixth of her career after she posted four goals and three assists in her freshman campaign.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Gulls take to the road for a CCC contest against Curry College on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. before returning home for three straight, beginning with Tufts on the 14^th at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Connecticut plays host to UMass Boston on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in Little East action. 

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