Box Score DUDLEY, Mass. (Oct. 12) – Nichols sophomore Fred Willard scored his first collegiate goal which also proved to be the game-winner to lift men's soccer past Salve Regina 2-1 in a Commonwealth Coast Conference match on Wednesday afternoon. With the win, Nichols improves to 9-3-1 overall and 4-2-1 in the league. Salve Regina slips to 5-8-1 on the season and 1-4-1 in the conference. The Bison have won their last four contests and move into second place in the conference standings.
 
The first half remained scoreless with Salve Regina holding slight 7-4 advantage on shots and a 2-1 margin on corner kick opportunities.
 
Sophomore Brendan Whitson netted his third goal of the season when he connected on a 12-yard shot to put Nichols on the scoreboard at 73:08. Senior Danny Smith registered his fourth assist of the season as he helped setup the scoring chance.  The Seahawks responded just over six minutes later as freshman Zachary Kraft netted a chip shot that was served up by classmate Issa Demirgioglu to even the match and score his fifth goal of the year.
 
Willard provided the heroics at 87:06 as he booted a feed from sophomore Scott Palmerino past the Seahawk keeper.
 
Each squad had a missed opportunity in the second half. The visitors had a chance to light up the scoreboard first when senior Christopher Knoth took a shot from 20-yards out at 69:23 only to be deflected by senior Brendan Hamilton. Willard had a close range shot with 6:59 remaining which was stopped by Seahawk rookie keeper Kyle Kureczka.
 
Salve Regina outshot the Bison 13-9 on the day as both teams would have four corner kick chances.
 
Hamilton improves to 8-2-1 in net for Nichols as he collected five saves.
 
Kureczka made four stops and slips to 4-5-1 on the season.
 
Nichols continues its CCC schedule on Saturday with a trip to Endicott for a 5:00 p.m. contest. Salve Regina entertains University of New England for a men's and women's soccer conference doubleheader also on Saturday.

Box Score