Box Score BEVERLY, Mass. (April 28) – Four-goal games by seniors Harry Holden and Connor Prescott paced the #3 seed Endicott past the #6 seed Nichols in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Quarterfinal action on Saturday afternoon.

The Gulls (9-8) move on to face #2 Roger Williams on Wednesday, May 2nd at 4:00 pm in Bristol, Rhode Island.  The Hawks earned a bye through the first round of the tournament with 9-5 (6-1 CCC) regular season record. 

Nichols ends their CCC Tournament run with a 7-9 overall record.  The Bison were led by their leading point-getter, junior attacker Macaulay Gillis, who had two goals and an assist in the second half. 

Holden, who had two goals coming into today's playoff game, erupted for four goals including two in the first quarter.  His first goal, a man-up opportunity at 13:01 with an assist to Brendan Eppley, started a stretch of 13 unanswered goals by Endicott that finally came to an end midway through the third quarter. 

Prescott, who matched his season-high of four goals, led all players with five points in the game.  The senior added an assist on the first goal of the second half that was scored by midfielder Peter Erickson.  Erickson ended up being one of three Gulls to score two goals as both Eppley and Jon Thanas found the back of the net twice. 

The Gulls were able to control possession of the ball, going 20-of-24 on faceoffs including 19-of-22 when junior Sam Ozycz was on the draw.  Ozycz went on to collected 14 groundballs, a season-high. 

Defensively, both teams were effective in causing turnovers.  Bison junior Christopher Barchard caused five turnovers for the visitors while Nichols senior Christopher Chipello and Endicott sophomore Breck Merritt tied with three caused turnovers each.  Barchard also led the Bison in groundballs with six while Merritt added six of his own to the team's 68 total groundballs. 

After a dominating first half effort, Nichols was able to get their offense going midway through the third quarter as Gillis scored back-to-back goals before teammate Steve Delahanty, from Zach Smith, capped off a three goal streak with his ninth of the season.  Prescott's third goal of the game with an assist to freshman Nick Pinciaro temporarily halted the Nichols attack but the Bison responded with a tally by Smith from Gillis to make it 14-4 with 8:12 remaining in the game.

Nichols would not score again and Pinciaro and Prescott would beat the goalie to wrap up the game at 16-4.  Pinciaro finished the game with a goal and two assists.  Pinciaro, Eppley, Harrison Cotter and Michael Armstrong all had two assists in the game. 

Goalie Tom Burke improved to 9-8 after his first half performance that saw the junior make three saves.  Bison senior Scott Gray took the loss but made 16 saves between the pipes as he faced 32 Endicott shots.  

The Blue and Green went 16-of-19 on clear attempts and were 2-of-6 on man-up opportunities. 

Under first-year head coach Eric Gobiel, Nichols finishes the year with the most wins since 2004.


Story courtesy Endicott Sports Information

Box Score