DUDLEY, Mass. (3/27/24) – It was a tale of two halves as the Nichols College Men's Lacrosse Team bested visiting CCC-foe Gordon College in their Commonwealth Coast Conference opener, 11-2 on Vendetti Field on Wednesday Evening. 

With the win, the Bison improved to 6-3 (1-0 CCC) on the year, and The Fighting Scots dropped to 4-5 (0-1 CCC) on the season. The win marks the first CCC opener win for the Bison since the 2019 season.

It was reigning CCC offensive player of the week Dylan DeRubeis who opened the scoring for the Bison just under 5 minutes into the game. His goal was his 10th of the season and was assisted by senior Blake Covell. That lead lasted until the 6:47 mark in the first when a Gordon attacker rifled a low shot past junior starting goalkeeper Brady Morgan to notch the game up at one goal apiece.

The two teams reached a stalemate and end the quarter on level terms with the Bison outshooting the Fighting Scots 14-6. However, the Bison reclaimed the lead less than one minute into the second quarter when sophomore Joey Lachance used a pass from senior Colby Gillis and ripped a shot past the Gordon goalkeeper to reclaim the lead. The two teams continued to trade shot attempts to no avail and the half would end with the Bison holding a narrow 2-1 lead.

The Bison came out blazing in the second half thanks to two goals in 27 seconds from DeRubeis to complete his hat trick and increase the Bison lead to 4-1. Junior CJ Cadigan continued the Bison scoring run by slotting two goals into the back of the net in 50 seconds to further the Bison lead to 6-1. Both goals were assisted by slick passes from Gillis. The Bison then used four goals in less than three minutes to close out the 3rd quarter including two goals from junior Jack Ellis and a goal each from Cadigan and sophomore Conor Doherty. The Bison finished the quarter on a 9-0 run to make the score, 10-1, in favor of the Bison. Gillis claimed the lone Bison goal of the fourth quarter to round out the scoring. The Fighting Scots responded with a late goal with 35 seconds left to bring the final score to 11-2. 

The Bison outshot the Fighting Scots, 50-19, while goalkeeper Brady Morgan finished the game with 10 saves and a .909% save percentage and improved his record on the season to 6-3. Billy Heller relieved Morgan late in the fourth and recorded one save in the contest.

The Bison will now kick off a two-game road trip with a visit to #18 Endicott College 7-1, (1-0 CCC) on Saturday, March 30th. The opening draw is slated for noon at Hempstead Stadium.