DUDLEY, Mass. – The Nichols College men's soccer team fell 2-0 to Western New England in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action Wednesday afternoon at the Nichols Soccer Field.
 
The Golden Bears capitalized on two first half goals and held the Bison without a goal for the fifth time this season – third time in the last five games.
 
Sophomore Nick Liccardi (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) opened the scoring at 21:38 when he took advantage of a rebound off a shot by junior Logan Pingree (Middletown, Conn.) that was blocked by the Bison defense and placed it into the lower third of the net.
 
The Golden Bears added another at 33:58 when junior Troy Remillard (Palmer, Mass.) scored his 11th goal of the season – second in the conference – to make the score 2-0. Senior Ryan Dickinson (South Hadley, Mass.) threw the ball in from the corner and into the box and the ball was then flicked back by senior Brandon Bolger (Saratoga, N.Y.). Remillard came one and fired a one-timer into the back of the net.
 
The Bison outshot the Golden Bears 19-16 for the game – including 10-4 in the second half – but were unable to get one in the net.
 
Senior Ryan Banker (Ashaway, R.I.) and freshman Chris Noga (Belchertown, Mass.) paced the Bison with three shots while five others had two shots. The Golden Bears were led by senior Kory Caster (Wilbraham, Mass.) and freshman Corey Brown (Somers, Conn.) with three shots.
 
Sophomore Patrick Porpora (Westminster, Mass.) stopped four shots in the loss while senior Kevin Strobel (Rockland, Mass.) made five saves in the win – his fifth shutout of the season.
 
All-Time Series
The Bison have now dropped the last three meetings with the Golden Bears and have allowed exactly two goals to WNE in each of the last six games. Western New England leads the all-time series at 23-10-5.
 
Next Games
Nichols (8-7-2, 4-4-1 CCC) – Saturday, October 29 at Gordon, 1:00 p.m.
Western New England (9-9-0, 6-3-0 CCC) – Saturday, October 29 vs Roger Williams, 12:00 p.m.