Beverly, Mass. – Two Endicott women’s lacrosse players netted five goals and goalie Leah Neff’s (South Berwick, Maine) stellar play in the second half lifted the Gulls to a 22-13 victory over TCCC rival Curry College, who suffered their first loss of the season. 

Endicott (7-3, 6-0 TCCC) and Curry (9-1, 4-1 TCCC) were tied 8-8 through the first 30 minutes of play, but the Gulls outscored the Colonels 14-5 in the second half to remain undefeated in conference play. 

Facing off against the league’s leading goal scorer, Curry attacker Ashley Hansbury (Chelmsford, Mass.), the Blue and Green surrendered three first half tallies to Hansbury.  The Colonels senior captain would finish with four goals on the day, raising her season total to 52. 

Hansbury got the Colonels on the board first, just 1:18 into the contest, with an unassisted tally.  Endicott sophomore Holly Davis (Guilford, Conn.) responded with back-to-back goals, including one with an assist to Molly Sowles (Yarmouth, Maine) to put the Gulls up 2-1.  Davis was one of two Gulls players with five goals.  She also added an assist in the second half, giving her a team-high six points in the game. 

Curry’s Ana Bottary (Hull, Mass.) and Lauren Glavin (Billerica, Mass.) helped the visitors regain the lead at 3-2, each with unassisted goals.  

Endicott’s senior midfielder Kelly Cunningham (Derry, N.H.) proceeded to score three of Endicott’s next five goals as the two teams exchanged the lead several times through the first half.  Cunning would finish the game with five goals, three of which came off a free position shot.  

Towards the end of the first half, with the score tied 7-7, Gulls freshman midfielder Callie Murphy (Woburn, Mass.) drew a foul from Curry and scored on the free position attempt to put Endicott up 8-7 with 10 seconds remaining in the half.  Curry, as they did 11 out of 16 times in the first half, won the draw control and pushed the offense forward to score with only one second remaining on a hard shot by Bottary.

Endicott’s Sowles scored the second half’s first goal with 28:03 remaining in regulation, but Curry’s Jessie Koffman (Andover, Mass.) scored all three of her goals within the next 90 seconds  to give the Colonels an 11-10 lead. 

Endicott’s Michelle Loizzo (Longmeadow, Mass.) tallied a goal and Curry’s Hansbury followed with her fourth and final goal to give the Colonels back the one-goal advantage at 12-11.  That would be last goal Curry would score until 2:30 remaining as Endicott went on a 11-0 run en route to victory.

The Gulls won 13 out of 20 draw control opportunities in the second half and used that possession to their advantage.  During the 11-0 run, Brooke Neuman (Stamford, Conn.) and Morgan DeShaw (Danville, N.H.) each scored multiple goals.  Neuman scored twice while DeShaw netted three in-a-row to raise her team-leading total to 33. 

The second half also featured strong defensive efforts by Gulls senior Brittany Kane (Scarborough, Maine) and goalie Leah Neff.  Kane caused three turnovers in the game and had four groundballs.  Neff had seven of her 10 saves in the second half as she improved to 7-3 on the season. 

Curry’s goalie, Maria Lynch (Billerica, Mass.) made 13 saves in the loss while Ashley Hansbury led her team with three caused turnovers and three groundballs.

The Gulls return to action on Wednesday, April 6th with a road game against TCCC opponent University of New England at 7:00 pm in Biddeford, Maine.  Curry looks to get back on the win column on the same day at Colby-Sawyer College at 3:30 pm.  (Game Recap Courtesy of Endicott Sports Information)

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