DUDLEY, Mass. (2/26/2025) – The Nichols College men's lacrosse team welcomed the University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) to Vendetti Field for their official 2025 home opener, but came up short in their battle against the Blue Jays, 13-9 Wednesday afternoon.

The Bison drop to 0-2 overall with the loss, while the Blue Jays improve to 2-1 with the win.

Dylan DeRubeis led the scoring for Nichols, notching a hat trick alongside a pair of assists, four ground balls and one caused turnover. CJ Cadigan scored two goals of his own, while Travis Arnold led the team with five ground balls. John Caserta caused three turnovers, and scored one goal.

Goalkeeper Brady Morgan faced 40 shots in the loss, making 15 total saves. Carter Renaud entered in relief late in the game, and recorded 2:04 of time in net.

The Bison wasted no time with their first possession of the game, as freshman attacker Jack Campbell opened the scoring with his first collegiate goal, courtesy of a pass from classmate Kane Williams. It would be shortly thereafter that DeRubeis wired home his first of the afternoon, increasing Nichols' early advantage to 2-0, before Daniel Lee then made it a 3-0 Bison lead at the 8:17 mark of the quarter, scoring his first of the season, unassisted. USJ would soon follow with their first tally of the contest at 6:00 even of the period, just over a minute prior to John Caserta's first of the season, sending Nichols into the second quarter leading 4-1.  

The Bison kept the offense rolling early in the second, with Jonah Libby wiring home his second of the season off a feed from DeRubeis to bring the action to 5-1 Nichols. However, the Blue Jays slowly turned up the heat on Nichols throughout the remainder of the quarter, potting three unanswered goals to creep back within one at the end of the half.

USJ drew even with the equalizer at 11:59 of the third, but the Bison soon regained their footing as they tacked on three consecutive goals over the next several minutes to re-take the lead, 8-5, with DeRubeis completing his hat trick with two of the three strikes. However, Nichols would be held scoreless the rest of the quarter, while USJ fired off their own 3-0 scoring run to tie the score at 8-8 heading into the final stanza.

Despite Cadigan adding his second of the day, a final scoring surge in the fourth by the visiting team held the Bison off long enough to deal the 13-9 loss.

The Bison hop on the road for the first time this spring on Saturday, February 29^th with a trip to Salve Regina University (3-1). Opening faceoff is scheduled for 1:00 PM at Gaudet Field.