WORCESTER, Mass. – The Nichols College men's soccer team was held to just one shot on goal in its season opener as it fell to WPI, 3-0, in non-conference action Thursday evening at Alumni Stadium.
 
Junior Brendan Nemes (Kingston, Mass.) tallied a goal in each half and senior Zack Chapman (Groveland, Mass.) cleared a ball off the line to highlight the shutout for the Engineers.
 
Senior captain Tyler Brenner (Stuart, Fla.) accounted for two of Nichols' five shots while Bison goalkeeper Patrick Porpora (Westminster, Mass.) was credited with four stops on the night. 
 
The Bison had their best opportunity about 11 minutes into the match when sophomore Zachary Lemire (Lowell, Mass.) blasted a shot that was initially blocked by WPI goalkeeper Connor Hoeckele (Granby, Mass.) and then swept out of danger by Chapman as it began to roll towards the net. 
 
Nemes broke into the scoring column early in the 33rd minute when he beat multiple Nichols players and shot into the lower right corner.  The junior helped the Crimson and Gray double its advantage at 73:06 when he volleyed a pass from sophomore Spencer Ralphs (Simsbury, Conn.) into the bottom left corner for his second marker of the match and eighth of his career.
 
WPI added an insurance goal when sophomore Riley Doherty (Shrewsbury, Mass.) converted a penalty kick four minutes later to cap the scoring for the Engineers.
 
All-Time Series
The Bison fall to 5-24-1 in the all-time series with the Engineers with the last win for Nichols coming in 1999.
 
Next Games
Nichols (0-1) – Saturday, September 3 vs New England Col., 2:30 p.m.
WPI (1-0) – Sunday, September 4 @ Worcester St., 12:00 p.m.