Box Score
Box Score
BEVERLY, Mass. - Endicott College scored three goals in both the first and fourth quarters and the #11 Gulls defeated Rensselaer, 9-3, in RPI's season opener. Endicott improves to 3-0.
Paul Cerone scored twice for the Red Hawks, who scored two second quarter goals and one in the fourth quarter.
Conor Chocheles had the other marker for Rensselaer, which got nine saves from
Ryan DeJordy.
Junior midfield Brad Lipkvich (Madison, CT) was quick to open the game as he drove the left side and beat DeJordy (Albany, NY/Columbia) for a 1-0 lead. The Gulls scored two more times in the first as Joe Gugino (West Hartford, CT) and Dan Cain (Billerica, MA) found the back of the net with 4:31 and 3:36 remaining in the quarter, respectively.
RPI responded just 2:41 into the second frame as Cerone (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield) let a shot go from 25-yards out that beat a screened Eric Hagarty (Sudbury, MA), pulling the Red Hawks within two at 3-1. Endicott countered with a Jonathan Prentice (Chelmsford, MA) tally as he fired a turnaround bounce shot that handcuffed the visitor's netminder and found its way into the back of the net.
It appeared that RPI would steal the late momentum heading into the half as Cerone scored his second of the day off an assist from
Nick Billy (Redding, CT/Joel Barlow) with just 55 seconds remaining in the second quarter. However, just as they had done in their previous two games, the Gulls scored with less than three seconds left as Dube fired a left-handed crank shot under the crossbar to give Endicott a 5-2 lead at the intermission.
Dube's goal was the first of five unanswered for the Gulls, who led by as many as seven goals in the latter part of the game. RPI scored a late goal in the fourth quarter to break the run, securing the final score.
Dube, a senior attackman, led all scorers as he notched three goals in the win. Cain upped his team-leading goal total to seven as he scored a pair. Nick Cosco (Londonderry, NH) had a goal and an assist while Gugino, Prentice and Lipkvich each had a goal for the Gulls. Jack Curtis (Chelmsford, MA) had two helpers to round out the Endicott scoring.
Eric Hagarty made 10 saves to notch his third-straight win. His counterpart, DeJordy, stopped five shots for RPI.
Endicott streaks into a lengthy break as the Gulls don't play again unit March 10 when they travel to Williams. RPI stays on the road for the second of three when the Red Hawks square off with RIT on March 8.
