WORCESTER, Mass. - Senior Scott Palmerino (Southbridge, Mass.) and freshman Felipe Schiller de Rezende (Bradenton, Fla.) scored second-half goals to lift the Nichols College men's soccer team to a 2-1 win over Clark (MA) University in non-conference action Tuesday evening at Granger Turf Field.

The win keeps the Bison unbeaten (1-0-1) heading into Saturday afternoon's home match with non-conference foe Springfield at 2 p.m. Junior Jeremy Nash (West Springfield, Mass.) recorded five saves to earn his first collegiate win at Nichols while senior Fred Willard (Webster, Mass.) picked up assists on both tallies. 

Things started out well for the Cougars as they scored the only goal of the first half when Kenneth Vera (Franklin Square, N.Y.) sent a low blast past Nash off of a feed from Oscar Zapata (Lima, Peru) at the 15:12 mark.
 
The Cougars had an excellent chance to extend their lead later in the half when Vera deked out a defender on the right flank and sent a cross into the box, but Kyle Russo (Westford, Mass.) was unable to connect on his header attempt.
 
Nichols immediately went on the attack in the second half and nearly knotted the game when senior Pat Gaumond (Holden, Mass.) sent a shot that clanged off the right post in the 53rd minute. Moments later, Willard had his own chance to even the game when he split a pair of Clark defenders, but his shot was turned away by Alistair Richardson (Tolland, Conn.).
 
The Bison, however, finally broke through when Willard found Palmerino, who fired a shot that looked like Richardson saved, but it was hit with such force that in banged off Richardson's hands and trickled into the net to even the contest at 60:20.
 
Less than 15 minutes later, Nichols took the lead courtesy of Willard, who raced down the left sideline and sent a ball to a streaking Schiller de Rezende, who gently tucked his shot into the lower left corner in the 75th minute.
 
The game proved to be a physical one with 26 combined fouls and six yellow cards. Robert Bischof (Tarrytown, N.Y.), who played the first half for Clark, turned back three shots and Richardson made one save.

Clark (1-1-1) heads to Colby-Sawyer next Wednesday for a non-conference match.

Contributions from Clark sports information