BEVERLY, Mass. – The No. 4 seed in the Conference of New England (CNE) Tournament, Roger Williams University, is headed to No. 1 Endicott to continue its CNE Tournament run on Wednesday, April 29th, at 7:00 pm.
The No. 1 Gulls come in with an 13-3 overall record, going undefeated at 9-0 in CNE play. Endicott ended their regular season with an 11-6 win over Western New England on Wednesday, April 22.
The Hawks enter the Semifinal after defeating No. 5 Wentworth 11-10 in the First Round on Saturday, April 25.
Endicott's offence is led by senior Nick Graap who has started all 16 games for the Gulls. Graap leads the team with 63 goals and seven assists for 70 points on the season. Senior Tommy Tyksinski is a key contributor for the Hawks, adding 50 goals and dishing out 27 assists for 77 points.
Likely taking the faceoff for the Gulls, Travis Foster holds a 184-372 record on the season. Defensively, Foster has 60 ground balls, while goalie Gio Panicola has 57 ground balls and has caused 11 turnovers. Andrew Schlipf leads Endicott in caused turn overs with 24 on the year.
Roger Williams is led by first year Caleb McKeown (Plymouth, Mass.), who leads the Hawks with 31 goals on the season and seven assists to go with 38 points. McKeown was just named CNE Rookie of the Week for last week's game against Johnson & Wales. Reece Moore (Marblehead, Mass) has 20 goals on the season, while Carter Shelton (Castle Rock, Colo.) has contributed 18 goals this year. Connor Russell (West Hartford, Conn.) leads the team with 13 assists, while Shelton and Harrison Steffens (Fairfield, Conn.) are both close behind with 11 assists each.
David Rizzo (Methuen, Mass.) has been solid at faceoffs for the Hawks this season, going 142-284 on the season. Defensively, Kyle Zirn (Derry, N.H.) has scooped up 83 ground balls on the season while logging 51 caused turnovers, his second consecutive season collecting over 50.
Endicott will likely turn to sophomore goalie Gio Panicola, who leads the goalies with 16 starts and games played. Panicola has made 153 saves on the season and has a save percentage of 56.3.
The Hawks will likely rely on their senior goalie, Aaron D'Aversa (Sea Cliff, N.Y.) who leads the goalie group with 15 games played and 11 games started. Roger Williams has gone a strong 7-5 with D'Aversa in net. He also leads the goalies in saves with a 125 on the season and has a save percentage of 53.9, the best out of the Hawks starting goalies.
The Hawks and Endicott will meet on Wednesday, April 29th at 7:00 pm in Beverly.
