DUDLEY, Mass. – It took over 66 minutes to find a winner in Wednesday night's Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men's lacrosse opener at Vendetti Field between Nichols and Salve Regina, as the Seahawk's Daniel Naglieri found the back of the net with 1:33 remaining in the second overtime period to propel the visitors past the Bison, 9-8. The Bison now fall to 6-4 (0-1 CCC) while Salve Regina propelled itself to 5-3 (1-0 CCC) in the decision.
Nichols got the scoring going early in the game, as
Jack Ellis scored just 1:48 into the contest to put the Bison up 1-0. Salve Regina would respond just eight seconds later with a strike from Ryan Reilly to even up the score up at 1-1.
Kyle Ettenhofer's later took the ball coast-to-coast beating goalkeeper William Kein to give the Bison the lead once again 21 seconds later. Both sides would trade goals in the closing 12:43 with
CJ Cadigan getting on the scoresheet with 4:25 remaining in the first to give Nichols a 3-2 advantage after the first quarter.
In the second, Ellis would again open the scoring on an extra-man opportunity, with Salve Regina scoring twice after to tie the game at 4-4. Nichols closed the half on a 3-0 run to take a 7-4 lead into the half, with
Hunter Ferreira scoring two goals in 42 seconds over that stretch.
Salve Regina responded with two goals and blanked the Bison in the third to cut the deficit to one with 15 minutes remaining in regulation. Ellis completed his hat trick with 12:03 to play, putting the Bison up by two. After Reilly scored his second of the contest in the middle of the frame, Thomas Skolnick lit the lamp with under 30 seconds to force overtime.
In the first overtime period, both
Brady Morgan and Kein made one save to push the game to an additional overtime. After two shots, including one on goal, in the early stages of the second overtime, Naglieri found the back of the net for the Seahawks to open up their conference play with a victory.
Morgan made 15 saves in goal for the Bison in the setback.
Nichols continues CCC play in a Tuesday, April 4 matchup with Roger Williams back at Vendetti Field with a 4:00 p.m. start time.
