SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Nichols College men's soccer team fell on the road to Western New England University, 4-1, on Saturday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action in Springfield, Mass.
 
The Golden Bears jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and never looked back, sandwiching two more goals around a Nichols tally in the final 58 minutes of play for the 4-1 win.
 
Western New England senior Logan Pingree (Middletown, Conn.) opened the scoring only 2:42 into the contest off passes from senior Troy Remillard (Palmer, Mass.) and junior Nick Liccardi (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) for the 1-0 advantage.  The Golden Bears extended the lead to 2-0 nearly 15 minutes later as Remillard entered the scoring column on a feed from sophomore Corey Brown (Somers, Conn.).
 
Nichols ended the shutout in the 29^th minute as senior Paul Sickinger (Tyngsboro, Mass.) headed home a free kick by junior Gregory Giglio (Deer Park, N.Y.) to cut the deficit in half.
 
Remillard answered for the home team only three minutes later off a feed from Pingree to make it a 3-1 game before the half. Corey Brown added one more goal in the second stanza to give the game its final score of 4-1.
 
Western New England held an 18-13 advantage in shots in the game as well as a 7-5 edge in corner kicks. Junior Patrick Porpora (Westminster, Mass.) made a pair of saves in the first half in the setback, while Juan Carlos De La Cruz (Stamford, Conn.) stopped two shots of his own in the second half. Junior Tyler Lavigne (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) made two saves in the victory for Western New England.
 
All-Time Series
Today marked the 39^th meeting between the two squads and the Golden Bears hold a 24-10-5 advantage in the series.
 
Next Match
Nichols (6-4-2, 2-2-0 CCC) – Tuesday, Oct. 10 at Endicott, 7:00 p.m.
Western New Eng. (8-3-1, 3-0-1 CCC) – Tuesday, Oct. 10 vs. Wentworth, 3:30 p.m.