WORCESTER, Mass. – Behind a hat trick performance from graduate attack Hunter Ferreira, the Nichols men's lacrosse team improved its record to 3-1 on the season as it earned an 8-6 victory over Clark in its first road test of the season on Sunday afternoon at Granger Field. The Cougars dropped to 0-2 in the setback.
 
The Bison took a 2-1 lead with 10 minutes to play in the first half when Ferreira stuck on a man-down opportunity. Sophomore Jack Ellis struck just 5:29 later to give the Bison a two-goal cushion, but Clark's Benjamin Hollerbach scored with under a minute to play to cut Nichols' lead to 3-2 going into the halftime break.
 
Coming out of the intermission, Ellis scored on a feed from junior attack Colby Gillis on a man-up opportunity to push the visitors up by two again ri kick off a string of Bison goals. Gillis' classmate, CJ Cadigan, registered an unassisted goal just under three minutes later before graduate attack Cian Keohane got himself on the stat sheet with 4:29 to play, making it 7-2 Nichols.
 
Clark would go on to outscore the Bison, 4-1, over the final 16:08 of regulation, but it would prove to be too little too late for the home team.
 
The Bison outshot the Cougars, 40-36, while also winning the ground ball battle, 36-33. Nichols was successful on 25 of its 30 clear attempts on the afternoon.
 
Ferreira paced the Bison offense with three goals on nine shots while scooping three ground balls. Gillis added three assists to tie Ferreira in points. Senior midfielder Ryan Warner and junior long-stick midfielder Cooper Melvin each recorded six ground balls.
 
Sophomore goalkeeper Brady Morgan made 15 saves on 21 shots to earn his second win of the season.
 
Nichols will return to action on Wednesday, March 1 in a 4:00 p.m. home matchup against Emmanuel (MA) at Vendetti Field.