Box Score PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Senior
Zac Smith (Wilbraham, Mass.) scored his second goal of the game eight seconds into overtime as the Nichols College men's lacrosse team moved to 2-0 on the season with a 13-12 win over Rivier College Saturday afternoon in non-conference men's lacrosse action at Vendetti Field.
Sophomore
Anthony Verville (Portland, Maine) potted five goals while junior captain
Michael Bane (North Grafton, Mass.) picked up a hat trick as the Bison have won their first two games for the first time since the 2009 campaign. Nichols outshot the Raiders 55-32.
Freshman Sean Given (Londonderry, N.H.) scored four times for Rivier (2-1), which also received three goals from sophomore Kyle Graham (Londonderry, N.H.) and two from senior Danny Hooper (Wakefield, R.I.). Sophomore Clark Plummer (Londonderry, N.H.) recorded 32 saves. The Raiders went 5-for-8 with the extra man.
The Bison led 12-8 with 5:52 remaining in the fourth before the Raiders ripped off four-straight goals to tie the game. Given began the run with a man-up goal at 5:26 before gals by Hooper at 3:21, Given at 1:07, and sophomore Kevin Dembkoski (Salem, N.H.) with 24 seconds left sent the game to OT. Freshman
Kevin D'Angelo (Pelham, N.H.) won the opening face-off in the extra session, then found Smith for a shot that beat Plummer high and ended the game.
"We had a great start to the game," said Nichols head coach
Eric Gobiel. "Our guys hung in there. Rivier is a strong, solid team, and our guys showed a lot of character pulling out the win after Rivier fought back. Our guys showed a lot of character and a lot of heart. We made a great play in overtime to win the game."
The game was tied at three after one as Bane netted a pair for Nichols. Two tallies from Verville in the second quarter helped the Bison open up a 7-4 lead before Hooper set up a pair of Rivier goals to send his team into the half down by one.
Each team found the back of the net once in the third, and Nichols scored four of the first five goals in the fourth to open up a four-goal cushion. Verville scored twice while senior
Brian Girard (Norwood, Mass.) and Bane also beat Plummer.
Junior
Sean Coates (Grafton, Mass.) collected a team-high eight ground balls and cased three turnovers, as did junior
Shaun Delaney (Woburn, Mass.). Rivier junior Cody Lynch (Salem, N.H.) led all student-athletes with nine GB's while freshman John Cangiamila (Woburn, Mass.) caused three turnovers.
Nichols freshman netminder
Peter Zygadlo (Hanover, N.H.) stopped 12 shots to improve to 2-0.
The Bison head to Salem State for a 4 p.m. contest on Tuesday. Rivier heads to Regis (MA) for a 5 p.m. game on Monday.