Gulls get three in first to defeat Seahawks

BEVERLY, Mass. - The Endicott women's soccer team advanced to the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) semifinals by defeating Salve Regina 3-0 on Saturday night. The Gulls scored three first half goals, two by sophomore Sharlotte Pernice (West Springfield, Mass.), to move to 13-3-2 (7-2-0 CCC) on the season.

Endicott moves on to face #2 Wentworth, a team that defeated #7 Western New England 3-0 in other CCC quarterfinal action. The bottom half of the bracket held true to seeding while the top half saw two upsets, in #8 Gordon's 2-1 win over #1 Roger Williams, and #5 Curry's 2-1 win over #4 UNE.

The Gulls got the scoring underway in the 18th minute when sophomore Mary Verneris (Hamden, Conn.) buried a header, her fifth goal of the season, off a Paige Pratt (Topsfield, Mass.) cross into the box. 

Sophomore Sharlotte Pernice then would score twice, just over two minutes apart, to put the Gulls up 3-0 for good. Her first, at the 22:03 mark of the first half, came off a free kick just outside the box. Pernice then scored at the 24:11 mark to give her 10 goals on the season. The strike came from 20 yards out and gives her 25 points to date on the campaign.

BEYOND THE BOX

• The women advance to the CCC semifinal round for the second straight year as the Gulls look to claim their first title since the 2013 season.
• Endicott out-shot the visitors 13-3 on the night, with seven of those 13 shots being on goal. Endicott keeper Caroline Armbruster (Stowe, Vt.) made three saves to record her seventh shutout of the season.
• Verneris' goal, the eventual game-winner, was her first goal since a two-goal match in the team's 4-0 win over Nichols on September 30. In that match-up, her first goal also proved to be the game-winner.
• The Gulls have now advanced to the semifinals or finals in 13 of the last 14 seasons.

FOR THE SEAHAWKS

• Keeper Carly Pala (Milford, Conn.) made four saves in the setback, after making two saves the last time she saw the Gulls in just over a half of work.
• Alex Carreira (Rocky Hill, Conn.), Abby McMackin (Walpole, Mass.) and Raine Oesterle (Monroe, Conn.) all recorded one shot and one shot on goal in the match.
• The Seahawks end their season with a record of 8-8-3 overall, 3-4-2 in conference play.