NCAA TOURNAMENT: Endicott Falls To Farmingdale State, 16-14, To Close 2017 Campaign

EWING, N.J. — The Endicott women's lacrosse team put together a valiant effort, but it wasn't enough as the Gulls fell, 16-14, to the Farmingdale St. Rams in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Tournament hosted by No. 1 nationally-ranked The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) Saturday afternoon at Lions Stadium.

With the defeat, the Gulls' season came to an end as Endicott bid farewell to five seniors, Meghan Lennon (Canton, Mass.), Chelsea Burke (Georgetown, Mass.), Emily Whitney (Rye, N.H.), Cailee Fairchild (Haddam, Conn.), and Maura Grady (Marblehead, Mass.).

Statistically speaking, it was a pretty evenly matched contest, with the main difference maker being the Rams' ability to win possession on the draw (18 to 14) to create more scoring opportunities.

The Rams struck first before back-to-back goals from Whitney gave Endicott its only lead of the day, 2-1, at the 25:12 mark of the opening half.

Five straight tallies from Farmingdale St., including a pair of freshman midfielder Victoria Varone's (Commack, N.Y.) team-high three strikes, gave the Rams a 6-2 lead and they went into the half up, 8-6.

Endicott then cut the deficit to as close as down one, 9-8, on Lennon's unassisted marker with 18:58 remaining in the game.

Freshman midfielder Jennifer Lacroix (Wrentham, Mass.) also got the Gulls within one, 10-9, on a feed from Whitney at the 16:03 mark, but that's as close as Endicott would get the rest of the way.

The Rams added four consecutive scores to go up by as much as five (14-9) with 10:53 to go to create some separation and the teams traded two goals apiece before the Gulls' furious comeback effort ultimately fell short as they bowed out of the tournament.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Today marked the first-ever meeting between these two teams.
• Sophomore goalkeeper Bella Rino (Northborough, Mass.), who came into the game ranked first in the country in save percentage, dropped to 10-2 in goal on the year as she made 10 saves for the fourth time this season and scooped up a game-high four ground balls.
• Whitney's team-high five points tied for a game-high and gave her 273 career points (188 goals, 85 assists), which ranks third all-time in program history in points and fourth in goals and assists.
• Lennon finished her career with 99 goals.

FOR THE FOES

• The Rams extended their win streak to eight straight and celebrated their first-ever NCAA victory (became a varsity program in 2006).
• Senior attack Janisha Sanchez (Brentwood, N.Y.) leads the country with 70 assists, as she tacked on three more helpers in this game to go alongside one goal.
• Senior midfielder Brittany Rosino (North Babylon, N.Y) paced the squad with a team-high five points (tied for game-high) on two goals and three assists (tied for game-high), while also winning a game-best seven draw controls.
• Sophomore goalkeeper Tori Johnston (Hauppauge, N.Y.) stopped 10 shots as she improved to 17-1 in cage on the year.
• The Rams came into the game ranked in the top 10 nationally in scoring offense, scoring margin, points per game, assists per game, and save percentage.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (14-5) sees its season come to an end, while Farmingdale St. (18-1) will go on to play the top-ranked TCNJ Lions on Sunday, May 14 at Lions Stadium at 1:00 p.m.

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(Photo Credit - David Le)