WEST HARTFORD, Conn. (3/20/24) – The Nichols College Men's Lacrosse Team stampeded into West Hartford for a tilt with the University of Saint Joseph (CT) on Wednesday afternoon on the USJ Athletics Complex. The Bison took the overtime win 7-6.
Junior Dylan DeRubeis scored the overtime goal to cap off a hat-trick in the Bison win. He led all players with three goals. Graduate student Ryan Warner, juniors Jack Ellis, CJ Cadigan, and sophomore Conor Doherty all scored a goal in the win.
It was the Blue Jays that opened the scoring with 2 minutes to play in the first quarter as Brendan Tedeschi scored his 6th goal of the year putting the ball past Bison junior goalkeeper Brady Morgan.
It took no time for the Bison to respond as Ellis answered back with his 5th goal of the year with just 29 seconds to play in the first frame. From there, the Bison pushed their lead to 2 at the half thanks to goals from Cadigan and DeRubeis' 5th of the year.
In the second half, the Blue Jays responded early to cut the Bison lead back down to one at the 13:55 mark of the third quarter. However, at the end of that frame, Warner pushed the Bison lead back up to two on an unassisted tally. Early in the fourth, DeRubeis scored his second off an assist from Colby Gillis as the Bison would see their lead push even further. Doherty extended that lead to four with his team-leading 9th goal with just over five minutes to play in regulation.
With a 6-2 lead in hand and four minutes to play, the Blue Jays proved they wouldn't go down easy as the Bison found themselves responding to 4 goals from the Blue Jays with 3:42 left to play, the last of which came with just 19 seconds left in the game to force overtime.
In overtime action, the Bison regained their pressure and forced a key turnover before racing down the field and scoring the game-ending goal at the 3:41 mark, escaping with a 7-6 victory. The goal came off the hands of DeRubeis, who completed the hat-trick, his team-leading second of the season. With the win, the Bison pull to 4-3 on the season, and USJ drops to 6-2. This Bison remain unbeaten in the all-time series moving to 3-0.
In goal for the Bison,Morgan saw his 7th start of the year and made 17 saves for the win, moving him to 4-3 this season.
Men's Lacrosse is back in action on Saturday, March 23rd as they host Vermont State University Castleton for an afternoon matchup on Vendetti Field. That game is set for 2:30 PM.
