(Courtesy of Nichols Sports Information)
DUDLEY, Mass. – Led by a career-high six points from first year attacker Steve Delahanty (Auburn, N.H.), the Nichols College men's lacrosse team edged Wentworth, 8-7, Saturday at Vendetti Field for its first victory in The Commonwealth Coast Conference play this season. Nichols snaps a five-game skid and improves to 3-9 overall and keeps its playoff hopes alive with a 1-7 TCCC record. Wentworth drops its fourth-straight game to fall to 4-8 overall and 2-7 in conference action. The win marks the first for the Bison in the series against Wentworth since the teams' first meeting back on April 25, 1998, and snaps a 12-game losing streak against the Leopards.
Ryan Pacific (Danbury, Conn.) connected with Delahanty twice and added a third assist on an Austin Healy (Westford, Mass.) goal.
Matt Cox
(Granger, Ind.) had four goals and an assist for the Leopards,
while Justin
Connors (Richboro, Pa.) added a goal and two assists.
An unassisted score from Connors was the only marker of the first quarter, and the Leopards led, 3-0, on a pair of Cox goals just over a minute apart to open the second stanza.
Tyler Kennedy (Cohasset, Mass.) put the Bison on the board off an assist from Delahanty at the 11:30 mark before Pacific connected with Delahanty for a man-up goal with 5:25 left. Trailing, 3-2, to start the second half, Nichols's Pacific was the key playmaker in goals from Delahanty and Healy to give the Bison a 4-3 lead with just over five minutes left in the frame.
A slashing call on the Bison turned into a goal for the Leopards as Cox knotted the score at 4:15, but Nichols' Michael Busby (Mission Viejo, Calif.) ripped a long shot in just over 30 seconds later to hand the lead back to the Bison.
Delahanty went to work early in the fourth, scoring his third of the game from Tim Dooley (Tewskbury, Mass.) just 18 seconds in, and then picking a man-up tally at 13:27 off a quick pass from Michael Farragher (Worcester, Mass.) for a 7-4 lead.
Connor Swanson (Holden, Mass.) answered back for the visitors with a goal from Cox to cut the home team's lead to two, but Delahanty helped the Bison edge back ahead, this time sending a centering pass to Bradley O'Brien (Danbury, Conn.) with 7:49 left. Wentworth scored right off the next faceoff, as Mike Swenson (East Lyme, Conn.) won the draw and passed ahead to Connors, who quickly found Mark Pappas (Worcester, Mass.) at the netfront for an 8-6 score. Cox added an unassisted goal with 3:36 left to bring the Leopards within one, and Wentworth had several chances with the clock under a minute, but the ball sailed just wide each time.
Nichols goalkeeper Scott Gray (Annapolis, Md.) made 14 saves to earn the win, while Jared Proulx (Nashua, N.H.) made 14 and allowed seven goals. Sean Tobin (Silver Spring, Md.) made one save and allowed one goal in the fourth while Proulx served a penalty.
Wentworth held a 49-40 advantage in groundballs and won 13 of 19 faceoffs, all by Swenson. Nichols converted two of seven extra-man opportunities, while Wentworth managed one of seven conversions.
Nichols takes a break from conference play to travel to Mitchell on Tuesday for a 4 p.m. game. Wentworth hosts New England College Wednesday at 7 p.m.
