CNE SEMIFINALS: No. 1 Endicott Bests No. 4 Nichols, 24-6

BEVERLY, Mass. – The first-seeded Endicott women's lacrosse team defeated fourth-seeded Nichols, 24-6, in the Conference of New England (CNE) Semifinals on Wednesday afternoon at Hempstead Stadium.

Mia Smith (Portsmouth, N.H.) highlighted the Gulls offensively by leading all scorers with a five-goal effort. The junior added two assists on the night as well.

Jaira Paine (Granby, Conn.) finished the game with four tallies, while Abbie Belleville (Salem, Conn.) and Leah Black (Cheshire, Conn.) both scored hat-tricks. Black matched Smith with seven points in the win as she recorded four assists.

Grace McAfee (Marmora, N.J.), Emily Typrowicz (Palos Verdes, Calif.), and Clare Wendell (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) all added two goals. Tori Apostolakes (Chelmsford, Mass.), Sophia Notine (Arundel, Maine), and Mia Samarjian (Stow, Mass.) round out the goal scorers for the Gulls as they all scored once.

In goal, Payton Quirk (Nahant, Mass.) picked up the win, stopping two shots during the first half. Emma Budke (Rye, N.Y.) made four saves during the second half as well.

With Endicott leading 5-2 at the end of the first quarter, the hosts used an 11-3 scoring advantage in the second quarter to pull away from the visiting Bison with six different goal scorers (Paine, Black, Smith, Wendell, Apostolakes, and Belleville).

From there, Endicott outscored Nichols, 8-1, over the course of the second half to secure the 24-6 win.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE 

• Endicott remains undefeated against Nichols all-time at 25-0.
• The Gulls advance to the CCC Championship game for the ninth consecutive season. 
• First career game with five goals for Smith.
• Third career multi-goal game for Typrowicz.
• First career goal for Apostolakes.

WHAT'S NEXT 

No. 1 seed Endicott (14-4) will host the winner of the other CNE semifinal between No. 2 seed Roger Williams and No. 3 seed Hartford in the CNE Championship game on Saturday, May 3 with time TBD. Nichols finishes its season with a record of 13-4-1.

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Photo Credit - (Jonah Bean '28)