Box Score

DUDLEY, Mass. – Rookie Donny Whittle (Ellington, Conn.) notched his second and third goals of the young season as classmate Alex Geas (Somers, Conn.) picked up his first career shutout to help the Bison blank visiting Clark, 3-0, in a non-conference men's soccer match played at Vendetti Field  on Wednesday afternoon. Nichols (1-2) earned its first win of the season as Chris Traina (Rutland, Mass.) posted his 100th victory as a Bison head coach. Clark dips to 1-2 on the year.
 
The Cougars outshot the Bison 6-3 in the first half and Nichols took the only corner kick of the frame as neither team would find the back of the net. Nichols had a pair of opportunities late as they would get a free kick with 15.2 seconds remaining on the clock but Clark senior keeper Ryan King (Brimfield, Mass.) made a stop to keep the match even at 0-0 heading into the intermission.
 
Nichols broke through in the 48th minute as Whittle planted the ball in the lower right corner off his left foot for an unassisted marker. Less than five minutes later, Whittle deposited a feed from senior Scott Coderre (Thompson, Conn.) to give the Bison a 2-0 lead. Later in the contest, rookie Christian Cole (Gaithersburg, Md.) sent a feed to sophomore Michael Perry (Plainville, Mass.) for the final marker of the contest at 81:17. The Bison took a commanding 12-3 advantage in the shot category and doubled up Clark on corner kicks, 2-1.
 
Geas (1-2-0) collected three saves in his first victory, and clean sheet, of his collegiate career. King (1-1-0) stopped a pair of shots for the Cougars. Junior Zachary Doenmez (Dublin, N.H.) took a game-high five shots with two aimed at the net as senior Gianluca Ranallo (Scarsdale, N.Y.) put his only shot on net for the visitors.
 
“We had a slow start in the preseason and faced some adversity,” said Traina. “Today was a true test to see if we could rise up both physically and mentally and I think we definitely did that. To see the guys put it together, I'm proud and overwhelmed by their attitude and effort and hopefully we keep moving forward.”
 
Traina, in his eighth season at the helm of the men's team, has the distinction of being the first head coach at Nichols to take a pair of programs to the NCAA tournament, including the first-ever Bison appearance with the 2002 women's soccer team. His 2010 men's soccer squad was rewarded with a first round match. Atop the women's program from 2002 through 2004, Traina boasted a 35-15-8 record and currently sports a 65-65-9 ledger with the men's program for an overall record of 100-83-14. The Commonwealth Coast Conference has seen the Bison make three of the last four men's soccer tournament title matches.
 
Nichols hits the road for the CCC-opener on Saturday at Eastern Nazarene. The match, previously a 12:30 start, has been moved to a 7:00 p.m. tilt.