Box Score DUDLEY, Mass. (April 23) – Seniors played a pivotal role in the Nichols College men's lacrosse team's 12-8 Senior Day victory over visiting Curry Saturday afternoon in the The Commonwealth Coast Conference regular-season finale. In a “win-and-in” situation for both teams, the Bison received 10 of 12 goals from seniors – including the first of the season from defender Patrick Mayo (Peabody, Mass.) – to clinch the eighth and final spot in the upcoming TCCC Championship Tournament. Nichols will travel to face top-seeded Western New England in the TCCC quarterfinals on Saturday, April 30th at 7 p.m.

Nichols (4-9, 2-8 TCCC) received three goals and an assist from senior Ryan Pacific (Danbury, Conn.) and three tallies from senior Brian Gattie (Plainfield, N.H.), including the Bison's first man-down score of the season. Classmate Bradley O'Brien (Danbury, Conn.) scored both of Nichols' man-up goals while senior Austin Healy (Westford, Mass.) added a goal. Seniors Tim Ahern (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Matt Nash (West Springfield, Mass.) were key playmakers with two and one assists each.

Joseph Natale led Curry (5-11, 2-8) with three goals, while Michael Snyder added two. Russell Lanham scored a goal and assisted two others, and Kyle Abbott and John O'Donnell each had a goal and an assist.

Nichols took the early lead just 1:27 into the game on a Pacific strike, but Curry answered with goals from Abbott and Natale just 41 seconds apart to take a one goal lead just over a minute later. Gattie scored man-down goal during a two-minute kill to tie it up and then finished the quarter off a pass from Ahern to give Nichols a 3-2 lead after one.

Natale struck just 36 seconds into the second quarter, but Pacific answered back nine seconds later to give Nichols the lead for good. O'Brien followed with a man-up goal from Macaulay Gillis (Northborough, Mass.) for the Bison's first two-goal advantage at 6-4 and after a Snyder score, he found the net again with his second man-up tally to regain the two-goal lead.

Lanham connected with O'Donnell with 8:18 left in the half, but Mayo carried the ball the length of the field before depositing it in the net for his first score of the season at 6:10. Ahern found Healy in front with 4:25 left to cap the half's scoring, giving the Bison an 8-5 lead at the break.

Nash found Pacific to start the third quarter, but Curry found its stride for three goals in less than three minutes, capped by a Lanham man-up tally at 9:02 to bring the Colonels within one, 9-8.

Gillis, however, held the ball at length around the cage three minutes later before rolling one under Curry netminder Michael Hibbard to give Nichols back its two-goal cushion.

In the fourth quarter, Bison goaltender Scott Gray (Annapolis, Md.) came up huge with six saves, shutting out the Colonels in the frame and causing a key turnover at the net with just over four minutes left that led to the Bison's final goal. After a failed Curry clear attempt, Gattie gave Nichols a three-goal advantage with 7:12 left. Then Gray sparked a field-length run by Brian Girard (Norwood, Mass.), who paused before firing for the Bison's final strike with 3:42 left. The Bison had a two-man advantage in the final 1:27, but Curry killed it off.

Gray finished with 20 saves in the win, while Hibbard took the loss with 14 stops. Timothy McGonagle played the final 1:27 in net.

The Colonels outshot their hosts, 43-35 on the day, but suffered a 31-25 margin in turnovers; a game-high four were caused by Nichols' Christopher Barchard (Dracut, Mass.). Abbott scooped up a game-high seven groundballs, winning 12-of-17 draws for Curry, which won 16-of-24 as a team.

Box Score