BEVERLY, Mass. – Amherst College's Kane Haffey '16 scored four first half goals and the fifth-ranked Purple & White held on for a hard-fought, 15-14 victory over Endicott College in Tuesday evening's non-conference men's lacrosse game at Hempstead Field in Beverly, Mass.

RECORDS
Amherst (6-1)
Endicott (2-6)

FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS

•  In the opening quarter, Endicott struck first when Hayden Souza scored 57 seconds into competition following a pass from Will Jennings.
• Amherst answered with three goals in a three minute span to take a 3-1 lead. Charlie Gill '16 netted an unassisted marker, while Chris Albanese '17 found the back of the net on a feed from Connor Sheehan '18. Rob Butko '16 added an unassisted goal to round out the stretch that saw the Purple & White take their early lead.
• Back-to-back goals by Jennings tied the game at 3-3 with 4:32 to play in the quarter, before Connor Crump '16 gave the visitors a 4-3 edge just 28 ticks later.
• Mitchell Tapley responded for the Gulls with 1:37 remaining in the first frame to set the score at 4-4 after 15 minutes of action.
• A goal-heavy second stanza saw Quinn Moroney '16 find the nylon at the 13:14 mark, before Haffey scored a man-up goal on a pass from Moroney to make it 6-4.
• Thomas Harvey and Tapley struck back for Endicott, before Albanese (assisted by Dylan Park '16) and Colin Bannon exchanged scores to make it 7-7 with 7:09 remaining in the half.
• Amherst closed out the half with a flurry of goals, as Gill kicked off a 5-1 run with his second goal of the game at the 6:20 mark, followed by Haffey who received a pass from Albanese to make it 9-7.
• A goal by the Gulls' Bannon made it 9-8, but three goals in 45 seconds lifted the Purple & White to a 12-8 advantage at intermission. Moroney found Haffey for his third strike of the game at the 45 second mark, before Austin Park '19 won the ensuing faceoff and found Haffey who capitalized with his fourth goal of the game 10 seconds later.
• Dylan Park closed out the half with his second goal with just one second on the clock following a dish from Moroney to set the halftime lead at four goals.

SECOND HALF HIGHLIGHTS

• In a defensive third session, Endicott scored the first two goals of the period as Peter Field Jr. scored at the 12:59 with an assist from Jennings, before Jennings collected another goal 2:27 later to pull the Gulls to within two at 12-10.
• With just 1:06 to play in the stanza, Jennings struck for his fourth tally to shrink the hosts' deficit to just one at 12-11.
• Thirty seconds into the fourth quarter, Albanese scored with an assist from Sheehan, and a goal by Michael Litner '16 scored at the 13:09 mark to make it 14-11. Albanese provided the helper on the goal.
• Jennings answered with a goal at the 11:44 mark to keep Endicott within two following a dish from Tapley.
• An extra-man marker by Gill extended Amherst's cushion back to three (15-12) at the 10:15 mark, before Souza connected with Shane Hughes less than 20 seconds later to make it a two-goal contest once more.
• With 5:03 to play in regulation, the Gulls inched closer as Bannon's pass found Matthew Faucher who scored to make it 15-14.
•  From there, Amherst was able to stave off the Gulls' rally and seal its fifth win of the season.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Andrew Ford '19 led Amherst with five ground balls, while Moroney and Cody Tranbarger '17 picked up four each.
• Tranbarger also made 10 stops between the pipes, while Ryan Cassidy '16 forced three opponent turnovers.
• Endicott was led by Hughes who scooped nine ground balls, while Souza followed with five pickups. Cameron Bell made 13 saves in 59:38 in goal, while Hughes won 21-of-31 faceoffs.

UP NEXT

• Amherst returns to NESCAC action Saturday, March 26 when it hosts Hamilton College at 1 p.m. at Pratt Field.