Gulls use lightning delay to down Seahawks, 9-7
BEVERLY, Mass. - A lightning delay of almost an hour opened the door for Endicott College to erase a 2-1 deficit with six unanswered goals as the Gulls edged Salve Regina University, 9-7, in a The Commonwealth Coast Conference men's lacrosse game on Thursday afternoon in Beverly, Mass. Endicott improves to 9-7 overall and 8-1 in the TCCC while the Seahawks fall to 8-7 and 5-4 in league play.
The two sides played to a 1-1 draw in the opening quarter with each goalkeeper making several big stops early on. Salve Regina grabbed its first lead of the day just 1:19 into the second when Chris Walker (Marshfield, Mass.) found the back of the net from his knees from 15-yards out to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.
The rain and lightning moved in quickly, halting the game for nearly an hour with 11:17 remaining in the first half. After the front had passed, it was Endicott who took the game by storm. The Gulls ripped off five straight tallies before the intermission, including two strikes from senior Jonathan Prentice (Chelmsford, Mass.) in the quarter's closing 1:30 to give the hosts a 6-2 lead at the break.
Brad Lipkvich (Madison, Conn.) scored his third of the day 4:07 into the third to up Endicott's advantage to five. Salve Regina responded with back-to-back goals from Ryan Comerford (Merrimack, N.H.) and Walker to make it 7-4 heading into the fourth.
Jonathan Prentice struck again just 29 seconds into the final frame with a bounce shot, followed by a Connor McCormack (Norwalk, Conn.) fast break goal to push the lead to 9-4. The Seahawks made it interesting, however, with three unanswered including two on the man-advantage. In the end, the Gulls used ball-possession approach to milk the final 2:04 off the clock, while senior Eric Hagarty (Sudbury, Mass.) made a nice save on a Kevin Murphy (Yorba Linda, Calif.) bid with just 27 seconds remaining to preserve the win.
Jonathan Prentice and Brad Lipkvich each scored three times for the Gulls. Senior netminder Eric Hagarty made 11 saves while sophomore Marco Duca (Waltham, Mass.) turned in three stops while holding down the Endicott cage during two Hagarty penalties. Three other Gulls had a single goal in the win.
Brendan Rooney (West Newton, Mass.), Evan Gates (Ridge, N.J.) and Walker each finished with two goals apiece for the Seahawks. Christopher Connors (Garden City, N.Y.) made 13 saves while Cody LaFerriere (Brookside, N.J.) won 13-of-16 face-offs that he attempted.
Thursday's game featured a total of 16 penalties for 13 minutes. Salve Regina held a 42-33 shots advantage and forced 29 Endicott turnovers compared to the Seahawks 28.
Endicott closes out its regular season on Saturday with a 1:30 matchup against Curry College in Milton, Mass. Salve Regina returns to action on the same day with its regular season finale at home against New England College.
Courtesy of Endicott sports information