Box Score

DUDLEY, Mass. – Senior Macaulay Gillis (Northborough, Mass.) scored three goals for Nichols College, which was defeated by Western New England University 18-8 in Commonwealth Coast Conference men's lacrosse action Tuesday night at Vendetti Field.

Freshmen Chris Litchfield (Burlington, Mass.) and Anthony Verville (Portland, Maine) each potted two goals for the Bison (2-6, 0-3 CCC), who suffered their third-straight defeat. Thirteen different student-athletes found the back of the net for the Golden Bears (5-4, 3-0 CCC), who received votes in this week's NCAA Division III poll.

Senior Zach Robinson (Middlebury, Vt.) and Ryan Marcus (South Hadley, Mass.), juniors Adam Knapton (Canandaigua, N.Y.) and Justin McKinney (Niskayuna, N.Y.), and sophomore Ben Borsellino (Scarsdale, N.Y.) each scored two goals for WNE while sophomore Jon Bota (Mahopac, N.Y.) and freshman James Kolesar (Warwick, N.Y.) each picked up two assists.

The Golden Bears raced out to a 4-0 behind a goal and an assist from Knapton before Gillis eighth tally of the season got the Bison on the board. Senior Corbett Corrigan-Harreys (Essex, Conn.) – who recorded a goal and an assist on the evening – pushed the WNE lead to 5-1 with his team-leading 18th of the season to close the first quarter.

Western New England outscored Nichols 4-3 in the second to make the halftime score 9-4 in favor of the visitors. Litchfield scored his 13th and 14th goals in the stanza while Marcus netted pair. Nichols trimmed the lead to four on Gillis' second of the night and ninth of the season off a feed from sophomore Michael Bane (North Grafton, Mass.) to open the third, but the Golden Bears reeled off the next five goals – including two from Borsellino – to build a 14-5 lead early in the fourth. Robinson scored both of his goals in the final quarter for WNE while Gillis polished off his hat trick with a marker at 7:09.

“They're a very talented team, but our guys hung in there. We worked hard,” said Bison head coach Eric Gobiel. “The outcome didn't show our effort. I'm proud of our guys. They played four full quarters today, which is something we haven't been able to do for a few weeks. We can't be complacent with the progress we've made, however, as we have a big game tomorrow.”

Sophomore Brandon Body (Newtown, Conn.) recorded eight saves to improve to 5-4 for the Golden Bears. Freshman Seth Drouin (Madison, Conn.) made eight saves for the Bison, who were outshot 47-34 on the evening and lost 23-of-30 face-offs. Senior Marc Miller (Trumbull, Conn.) racked up a team-high five ground balls for Nichols while three student-athletes picked up four for the Golden Bears.

The Bison return to action tomorrow night with a 7 p.m. home contest against local rival Becker. The Golden Bears travel to SUNY Cortland for a 7 p.m. contest on Thursday.