Box Score

PORTSMOUTH, R.I. – Junior Alex Larson (Madison, Ala.) made 35 saves to earn his sixth collegiate shutout in Nichols College's 5-0 win over Salve Regina University Saturday night in Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Northeast action at Portsmouth Abbey Rink.

Junior Tyler Beasley (Indianapolis, Ind.) registered a goal and an assist and senior Brett Jackson (Larchmont, N.Y.) had a pair of apples as the Bison improved to 12-3-2 on the season (4-1-1 ECAC Northeast). Seniors Joe Sposit (Cleveland, Ohio) and Kyle Shapiro (Ambler, Pa.), along with junior Frank Butler (East Haven, Conn.) and sophomore Sean Swansen (Salem, N.H.), also potted goals for Nichols, which outshot the Seahawks 37-35.

Swansen scored the only goal of the first from a sharp angle near the bottom of the right face-off circle to send the Bison to the locker room up one. Nichols exploded for four goals in a span of 6:43 in the second to blow the game open at 5-0. Shapiro blew a wrister over the glove hand of senior netminder Jake Williams (Montreal, Quebec) to double the Bison's lead before Butler's team-leading 10th of the season from the right side of the slot made it 3-0 at 9:58.

Beasley's tap-in at the right post off a feed from Butler at 13:56 pushed the lead to 4-0, and Sposit buried a pass from freshman Scott Cuthrell (Waterford, Mich.) from the right circle to close the scoring at 14:52. Nichols outshot the Seahawks 17-6 in the middle period.

Larson was at his best in the third, stopping all 17 shots he faced to move to 10-2-2. In the process, he raised his nation-leading save percentage to .954. Nichols went 1-for-4 with the man advantage and killed off all three Salve Regina PP chances.

Juniors Sean Fleming (Easthampton, N.J.), Paul Prescott (Oakdale, Minn.), and Daniel Bufis (Linden, N.J.) all registered assists for Nichols in the win.

The Bison host Western New England Tuesday at 8:10 p.m. Salve Regina (5-8-2, 3-3-0 ECAC Northeast) plays at Johnson & Wales (RI) Thursday at 7:45 p.m.