Box Score

DUDLEY, Mass. The Wentworth Leopards extended their winning streak to a school record six games as they defeated host Nichols 9-8 on Wednesday at Vendetti Field in The Commonwealth Coast Conference men's lacrosse action. Junior Chris Wesche (Holden, Mass.) led the Leopards with four goals and one assist for five points. Wentworth improves to 5-5 overall and 4-1 in the conference while Nichols remains winless at 0-9, including a 0-4 mark in TCCC action.

Freshman Ryan Pacific (Danbury, Conn.) scored just 1:15 into the game off a nice feed from senior Peter Smyth (Bradford, Mass.). Wentworth's Cory Benulis (Victor, N.Y.) tied the game by the 8:52 mark but that would be the last goal of the period.

Smyth earned his second assist of the night when he connected with freshman Gerard Jacobs (Billerica, Mass.) on a breakaway early in the second period. The Leopard tied things back up just 13 seconds later with a goal by freshman Matt Cox (Granger, Ind.). The Bison offense continued to flow as they took a 4-2 lead with a pair of goals in the final 5:01 from freshman Tim Ahern (Boca Raton, Fl.) and Pacific.

Wesche quickly tied the game with a pair of unassisted goals in the first 4:43 of the second half. Ahern registered his second goal of the game midway through the third to give the Bison a one goal lead, 5-4, but Wesche struck again just over three minutes later to knot things up again, 5-5.

Ahern picked up his third point of the game when he set-up Smyth with 2:19 left in the third, giving Nichols a key 6-5 edge heading into the final period. Wesche netted his third goal of the game at the 11:09 mark while freshman Stephen Biszko (Tiverton, R.I.) gave Wentworth its first lead of the game with 10:17 left. Wesche then gave the Leopards a crucial two-goal lead, 8-6, three minutes later.

Nichols, hungry for its first win, made a valiant comeback in the waning minutes of the game. Ahern rocketed a shot past goalie Nick Murphy (Cohasset, Mass.) with 3:48 left to get his team with within one, 8-7. Biszko gave Wentworth a two-goal cushion back, however, 51 seconds later. Freshman Brent Cicco (Salem, Mass.) scored with ten seconds left and a shot by sophomore Sean Tarrant (Norwalk, Conn.) at the buzzer nearly made its way past Murphy. 

Benulis finished with two goals for the Leopards as did Biszko. Ahern led the Bison with his three goals and one assist. Pacific added two while Smyth registered a goal and two assists.

Murphy posted eight saves on the night for Wentworth while freshman Austin Healy (Westford, Mass.) had nine for Nichols.

Nichols will be back in action this Saturday at Connecticut College while Wentworth will play at Gordon.