BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's soccer team hosted Saint Joseph's (ME) on Wednesday evening for a regional matchup under the lights. Junior Abdulla Al Khalifa (Riffa, Bahrain) partook in every goal as he tallied two goals and nabbed an assist to help give the Gulls the 3-0 victory. Endicott now stands at 7-6, (2-2 CCC) while their opponents fall to 8-4-1 (4-0 GNAC).
The first frame was controlled by the Gulls as they outshot the Monks 11-5. Al Khalifa started the scoring early at 14:12 when sophomore Sebastian Rozo (Stamford, Conn.) dribbled up the middle of the field and found Al Khalifa on the left side of the goal where he was able to bank it into the back of the net past junior goalkeeper Robert Petrosillo (Methuen, Mass.) to take the 1-0 early lead.
At 26:16 senior Ryan D'Amico (Marlborough, Conn.) had a great opportunity to get another tally for the Blue and Green when freshman Josh Moreno (Farmington, Conn.) sent him a nice feed up the middle but the ball sailed just wide. Endicott kept chugging in the final third to get scoring opportunities.
Finally at 28:51 D'Amico got redemption from his previous shot and found the back of the net after Al Khalifa regained possession of the ball at the top if the 18 and brought out some fancy footwork to move around two defenders and then made the pass to D'Amico who was on the right side ready to slip it past Petrosillo to increase the lead to two.
With about 20 minutes remaining in the frame the Monks started a big scoring opportunity as senior Kyle Shangraw (Westbrook, Maine) came charging in with the ball at goal but senior Zach Mullane (Panama City, Fla.) ran in neck and neck with Shangraw and was able to distract him while sophomore goalkeeper Austin Peluso (Farmington, Conn.) was able to slip in and take the ball to break up the play to enter halftime with the 2-0 lead.
The second frame was identical to the first in terms of the Gulls controlling the match as they held the Monks to zero shots in the frame. At 59:28 senior Bobby Durben (Stow, Mass.) was working to create a play in the 18 and was fouled hard by a Monks defender and Endicott was awarded their second penalty shot of the season. Coach Calabrese sent Al Khalifa to the line to take the shot and he did it with ease as he found the back of the net to give the Gulls the 3-0 lead.
The rest of the night was quiet for both sides, the Blue and Green continued to control the midfield and their final third but could not get another tally on the board, but they would not need one as the Gulls defensive unit kept the Monks off the board until the clock hit zero to leave the Gulls victorious in the 3-0 shutout win.