Box Score DUDLEY, Mass. – Sophomore
Ian Miller (Shrewsbury, Mass.) scored his third goal of the season in double-overtime to lead the Nichols College men's soccer team to a 2-1 win over Gordon College in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship match Saturday evening at Vendetti Field.
With the win, this Bison (14-2-4) advance to their second NCAA tournament in school history. The last time the Bison won the conference championship was in 2010, when they defeated the Fighting Scots in penalty kicks after playing to a 1-1 tie.
After a scoreless first overtime in which each team recorded one shot, Miller split the defense and fired a shot from thirty yards out that found the lower left corner of the net at 103:17. Nichols has now won four of the last five against the Fighting Scots, who entered the match No. 8 in this week's NCAA Division III New England soccer rankings (Nichols was 11th).
"Gordon is a tremendous team. They truly outplayed us in the first match this season and we needed to score on a set-piece to pull that win out," said Nichols head coach
Chris Traina. "I knew they would be coming here for revenge, but we were ready. I think it was a fantastic final. I'm very happy that our guys will get to experience playing in the NCAA Tournament."
The game was a defensive battle until at 76:25 when Gordon freshman John Schwien (Garnet Valley, Pa.) sent a free kick into the box. Sophomore Aaron Terjanian (West Chester, Pa.) headed it over the outstretched hands of senior goaltender
Jeremy Nash (West Springfield, Mass.) and into the top left corner of the net to put the No. 2 seeded Fighting Scots up 1-0.
The Bison – who finished the contest with a 21-11 edge in shots – rallied to tie the game in the 85th minute on a play from 35 yards out. Sophomore
David Melanson (Simsbury, Conn.) sent a free kick from the right side of the field towards the box, and junior captain
Patrick DeRosa (Lynnfield, Mass.) was able to get a head on it and flick it past sophomore goalkeeper Josh Spoonhour (Greencastle, Pa.) to tie things up at a goal apiece.
CCC Rookie of the Year freshman
Rielee Mohsin (Stuart, Fla.) led all student-athletes with five shots while Melanson chipped in three. The Fighting Scots were paced by Terjanian with four shots.
Nash stopped five shots and improved to 9-1-3 on the season. Spoonhour made eight saves and falls to 12-5-2 on the year.
The Bison now wait for the NCAA Selection Show on Monday to see who and where they will play next week in the NCAA Tournament. Gordon (14-5-2) will wait to see if they receive an at-large berth.
