As Ryan McDonald sprinted upfield against Endicott College’s 10-man ride, he stopped on a dime and saw his goalie, Kaden Quirk, with his eyes wide open — but not as open as the opposing net.
Quirk immediately launched the ball 50 yards downfield, attempting to score, but the ball died eight yards before the cage. Jake Degnan came out of nowhere, grabbed it out of the air, and somehow dumped the ball in to put Springfield College lacrosse up 3-2 in the first quarter. However, the Gulls would respond and fight back to hand the Pride an 11-9 under the Friday night lights at Stagg Field.
Pride Head Coach Keith Bugbee was pleased with his team’s effort and the battle throughout, but knew Endicott would be a tough team to overcome. Endicott is No. 20 ranked in the recent Division III USILA poll.
“[The game] was pretty much what I thought it was going to be; it was going to be a tough, one-goal game basically the entire time,” Bugbee said. “They’re a good team — a top 20 team. I’m glad we competed as well. I’m glad we played hard, but it came down to a couple of possessions we couldn’t execute.”
Degnan put Springfield up 1-0 within the first eight seconds of the game, thanks to Vincent Scialdone’s impressive faceoff win. Faceoffs were a war the entire game, as Endicott only won one more faceoff than Springfield and just two more ground balls. The Gulls came back with two goals, but Brady Soldo used a split dodge to lose his defender and tie things up at two a piece, and Degnan’s goal put the Pride up a goal at the end of the first. Quirk’s assist to Degnan was the first assist of his career at Springfield.
Degnan tied it up again early in the second and put together one of the best first halves that a Springfield player has had so far this season, with three goals and multiple ground balls that saved turnovers. The sophomore standout now has 55 goals in just 21 career games, and those four ground balls tied a career-high.
Although a close game, the Pride offense struggled trying to find good looks on the net the entire night, especially in their settled-down situations — they couldn’t convert on man-up either.
Rory Scanlon used his shifty play style to go high-low and take the lead, but Endicott knotted it at five entering the second half. The total shots and saves were also knotted at the half, sitting at 19 and seven, respectively.
Graduate midfielder Riley Burgmyer looked off the goalie and perfectly placed his shot into the net, and Soldo crafted a bouncer that stung the top left corner to go up 7-6. The Gulls, however, more than responded; Endicott changed their goalie at halftime and turned to Christopher Tillotson. The backup ended the night with 10 saves, and only three goals allowed for a .769 save percentage. Endicott went up 9-8 and stayed that way for seven minutes in the fourth until Endicott scored again. The Pride were hurt by three turnovers in that scoreless stretch, including two in clearing opportunities.
“I don’t think [the offensive struggles] had to do with the goalie change,“ Bugbee said. “I think our offense is just a work in progress, and when we play a good shooting team like they are, there’s not much room for error.”
First-year X-attackman Ryan Berkel threw a pass that Burgmyer instantly ripped and scored to cut the deficit to one with 1:04 to go. Still, a faceoff loss into an Endicott timeout gave the Gulls a free opportunity to ice the game with an empty net goal.
Springfield plays a scorching-hot No. 12 Amherst away on Tuesday.
“Amherst is an amazing team,” Bugbee said. “I really wish we won this game, but we’ve improved so much since Nazareth, and I’m happy about the direction we’re headed.”