QUINCY, Mass. (Oct. 2) -- The Nichols College men's soccer team scored three first half goals and played excellent defense in a 5-0 win over The Commonwealth Coast Conference opponent Eastern Nazarene College Saturday afternoon. The Bison came out firing as they took 16 shots in a first half that featured an impressive display of team play by visiting Nichols College.

The Bison stuck early as Michael Schell (So. Windsor, Conn.) received a deflection off of a corner kick and tapped it into the goal to give his team a 1-0 lead at the 15 minute mark. Nichols' Dan Smith (Verona, N.J.) followed with a goal of his own at 32:00 when he took a pass from teammate Brian Filburn (Granby, Conn.) and sent a shot wide into the left side of the net to put Nichols up 2-nil. Just before the close of the first half, Nichols' Brendan Whitson (Auburn, Mass.) gathered a cross to the box and struck a shot into an open net to send the Bison into half time with a three goal lead.

Whitson kept the scoring trend alive in the second period on a fast break as he placed a shot into the left corner of the goal to stretch the Nichols lead to four goals at 61:00. Eleven minutes later, Nichols' Scott Coderre (Thompson, Conn.) headed a corner kick past the Eastern Nazarene goalkeeper for the team's fifth goal of the game. Eastern Nazarene fired off a handful of last minute shots but was unable to find the net as Nichols secured the victory, 5-0.

Coderre's goal brings him to seven on the season to lead the Bison.

John Corbin led the Lions on offense as he took five shots on the day. Eastern Nazarene goalkeeper Chris Cherry recorded a game high 10 saves. Brendan Hamilton (No. Attleboro, Mass.) made six saves in the first 80 minutes before bowing out to George Quireyns (Holbrook, Mass.) who wasn't tested over the remainder of the game.

The win extends Nichols' unbeaten streak to eight and brings the Bison to 7-1-1 on the season and 5-0-1 in TCCC play. With the loss, Eastern Nazarene drops to 0-6 in TCCC matches and 1-8 on the year.

Both teams will be back in action on Wednesday as the Lions will travel to TCCC opponent Western New England while Nichols will host Roger Williams at 7:30 pm.

 

Story courtesy Eastern Nazarene Sports Information

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