Gulls Soar to a 4-0 Victory Over Chargers; Linden Earns First Collegiate Goal

NEW LONDON, N.H. – The Endicott field hockey team traveled to Colby-Sawyer on Monday afternoon to kick off the month of September. With three point games from junior Ashleigh Allen (Glastonbury, Conn.) and senior Jess Linden (Stratford, Conn.) the Gulls soared to a 4-0 victory in their second game of the 2014 season. With the triumph Endicott improves to 1-1 tallying their first win of the season while the Chargers fall to 0-3.

Endicott now improves to 4-0 all-time against the Chargers who are in their fourth season as a varsity program. Entering the contest the Gulls held a 13-1 goal differential, now improving that number to 17-1. Endicott will see action next on Thursday, September 4^th as they host North Shore Cup rivals Salem State for their home opener of 2014 set to start at 4:00 p.m. The Chargers will pick back up on Saturday, September 6^th when they travel to Elms College.

The Blue and Green outshot Colby-Sawyer 21-6 while earning 11 corners to the Chargers six in the 70 minutes of play. In the first half the Gulls got on the board early at 4:46 as a Chargers defender made an intentional foul in the circle forcing a penalty stroke. Allen stepped up to the stroke mark and nailed a crisp lifted shot to the goalkeepers weak side to earn her first goal in a Blue and Green uniform.

Four minutes later Allen was hungry for more as she set up rookie Brittany Bushey (Pittsford, Vt.) for a perfect tip in on the left post to tally her second goal of the season and her second in her rookie season. Despite controlling the ball for most of the first half the Gulls did get some offensive pressure from the Chargers as they forced rookie goalkeeper, Cheka Ventura (Lawrence, Mass.) to make some key stops by the end of the first 35 minutes.

Entering the second half with a two goal lead the Gulls were hungry for more as they took 12 shots to their opponents three while forcing 10 penalty corners. For the first 20 minutes of the half the Chargers kept the Blue and Green from finding the back of the net as junior Jodi Dumayne (Claremont, N.H.) made six saves in the half.

Endicott had many scoring opportunities throughout the half but could not capitalize until the 58^th minute when Linden stepped up on a corner and blasted shot to the deep opposite corner to record her first collegiate goal of her career while senior Kathryn Walker (Middlebury, Conn.) earned her first assist on the season. Linden primarily spent her past three seasons in the backfield and has slowly started to make a name for herself on the midfield line where she has been able to create more offensive opportunities.

Seven minutes later Linden was not satisfied with her two points as she sent senior Mackenzie Hurst (Gilford, N.H.) a crisp feed where Hurst was able to rip the one timer to the right corner to score the final goal of the game.

Allen and Linden both led with three points each tally both a goal and an assist. Ventura finished the afternoon with four saves while her counterparts shared eight saves in the combined 70 minutes.

The Gulls will be eager for their home opener against the Vikings. Endicott holds an 8-3 advantage all-time against the cross-town rivals while the pair split the last four meetings earning two apiece.