Box Score
WENHAM, Mass. – Junior Cody Brown (Waterford) forced a turnover inside the final two minutes that set up senior Andrew Pendagast's (Southbury) game-winning goal with 38 seconds left and gave Craig Gibson his first career head coaching victory in Eastern Connecticut State University's 10-9 victory over Gordon College in the 2024 men's lacrosse season-opener Wednesday afternoon at Brigham Complex.
 
Pendagast's third goal of the match off an assist from junior Brycen Kennedy (Southington) broke the fifth and final tie and proved to be the game-winner after Gordon's John Flemmi (no goals on eight shots in the game) couldn't connect on two shot attempts in the final 16 seconds – the first hitting the post and second being blocked.
 
Now in his 19^th season as a college coach, Gibson was named Eastern's seventh head coach this past summer after four years as associate head coach and offensive coordinator at Division I Fairfield University. Gibson becomes Eastern's fourth head coach to win his debut at Eastern, following Jonathan Basti in 2003, Nicholas Smith in 2005 and Marc Graham in 2019. Of the three, only Smith's victory was decided by one goal when the Warriors outlasted RIT in a match played at Stevens Tech, 12-11 in overtime.
 
In his collegiate debut, first-year goalie Gregory Hilinski (Shelton) turned back 12 shots, four coming in the final quarter when the Scots scored three goals on 13 shots.
 
Eastern and Gordon exchanged scoring runs in the fourth quarter and the Warriors seemed to be in command with a three-goal lead with six minutes left before the Fighting Scots answered with three of their own that tied the match, 9-9, with just over two minutes left. Sophomore Aidan Walsh won the ensuing faceoff for Gordon, but Brown stripped Marco Fernandez (whose goal had tied the match moments earlier) and picked up the ground ball.
 
Eastern never trailed after junior Quinn O'Connor (Glastonbury) gave the Warriors a 7-6 lead with his first goal of the season with 11 minutes left in the game.
 
Nine Gordon penalties (the Scots were flagged for the final eight penalties of the match) provided Eastern with nine extra-man opportunities but the Warriors could capitalize only once when first-year attack Connor Chirico (Milford) connected for this first career goal during that run of four straight goals that pushed the Warriors into their  9-6 lead with six minutes left. In a starting role, first-year attack Tanner Drobish (Wallingford) also netted his first career goal that tied the match, 5-5, with five minutes left in the third quarter.
 
Eastern unloaded 45 shots, with Gordon junior goalie Colin Liscomb stopping 21 of the 31 that reached the cage. O'Connor collected ten of the Warriors' shot, putting seven on net, with Pendagast and Kennedy unloading eight each.
 
Eastern remains undefeated in the 11-game series with Gordon but the one-goal differential was the first in the series, following an 11-10 outcome at Eastern's Thomas Nevers Field in the final home game of the season when both squads were members of the Pilgrim League.
 
Eastern visits Curry College Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the second of seven season-opening road matches before the Warriors host Roger Williams University March 19 at Rick McCarthy Field.