DUDLEY, Mass. – Junior attacker Macaulay Gillis (Northborough, Mass.) scored 52 seconds into overtime to lift Nichols to a 7-6 victory over visiting Wentworth in Commonwealth Coast Conference men's lacrosse action on Vendetti Field Saturday afternoon. The goal capped a fourth-quarter comeback by the Bison that saw senior Devan Maher (Leominster, Mass.) tie the game with 30 seconds left in regulation. Nichols improves to 3-4 overall and gets its first CCC win to move to 1-2. Wentworth, meanwhile, drops its fifth-straight game to dip to 1-5 overall and 0-2 in league play.
First year Michael Bane (North Grafton, Mass.) led Nichols with three goals and an assist, while Gillis added two tallies. Liam Sullivan (Mashpee, Mass.) had a strike and Marc Miller (Trumbull, Conn.) assisted another.
Dillon Lynch (Southwick, Mass.) and Mark Pappas (Worcester, Mass.) each scored twice for the Leopards, while Jeff Guilherme (Derry, N.H.) added a goal and an assist.
Nichols was hot out of the gate as Bane popped one in right off the opening draw to give Nichols a 1-0 lead within the opening 30 seconds. Sullivan caused a turnover deep in Leopard territory and ran it all the way downfield to edge the Bison ahead by two with his first goal of the season at 6:28, but Wentworth cut the deficit in half less than a minute later. Pappas intercepted a pass behind the Nichols net, ran it around in front and fired to make it 2-1.
Bane found Gillis for a man-up goal late in the second quarter before firing on his own 30 seconds later to give Nichols a 4-1 lead headed into halftime. The Bison had outshot their visitors, 24-9, and had forced 18 Leopard turnovers in the frame.
Wentworth found its stride in the third quarter, however, netting five consecutive goals to take a 6-4 lead during the span. The Leopards had previously scored four third-quarter goals all season.
Lynch got things going with his first goal of the season, coming from Steve Glover (Marstons Mills, Mass.). Chris Kipp (Scarborough, Maine) and Pappas followed with goals less than a minute apart to stun the Bison with a 4-4 score with 8:18 to play in the third. The hits kept coming as Guilherme and Lynch added unassisted scores to take a two-goal lead. Wentworth outshot Nichols, 13-7, in the third.
The Bison rallied in the fourth as they solved the Leopards' zone. Miller found Bane outside the crease to cut the deficit to one with 6:45 to play. The game-tying score came after Steve Delahanty (Auburn, N.H.) forced Leopards' keeper Jared Proulx (Nashua, N.H.) to cough up the ball outside the crease. One Bison attackman missed the pickup, but Maher came out of a scrum with it and fired for his sixth score of the year and to force the extra time.
Wentworth had possession from the overtime draw, and got a shot off, courtesy of Michael Cushera (Waltham, Mass.). Nichols netminder Scott Gray (Annapolis, Md.) came up with a big save and started the Bison's clear. It was a quick one as Bane found a sprinting Gillis as he cut toward the net. Gillis deked several times before going high-low past Wentworth's Proulx at 3:08.
Both Proulx and Gray were big difference-makers in the game. Proulx shouldered the loss with 21 saves, and Gray's nine were solid stops.
Nichols outshot Wentworth by a 39-28 margin, with 28 on net to the Leopards' 15. Wentworth had 35 turnovers, 20 of which were caused by the Bison, led by five from Elwin McCarthy (Duxbury, Mass.). McCarthy also had six groundballs.
Nichols is back in action on Tuesday, April 3, in a 7 p.m. CCC game at Western New England. Wentworth travels to Gordon on Thursday, April 5, for a 4 p.m. CCC matchup.
(Release Courtesy of Nichols Sports Information)
SCORE BY PERIOD 1 2 3 4 OT Tot
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Wentworth........... 1 0 5 0 0 - 6
Nichols............. 2 2 0 2 1 - 7
Wentworth SCORING: GOALS: Dillon Lynch 2; Mark Pappas 2; Jeff Guilherme 1; Chris Kipp 1. ASSISTS: Michael Cushera 1; Steve Glover 1; Jeff Guilherme 1.
Nichols SCORING: GOALS: Michael Bane 3; Macaulay Gillis 2; Devan Maher
1; Liam Sullivan 1. ASSISTS: Michael Bane 1; Marc Miller 1.
SHOTS - Wentworth 28; Nichols 39.
SHOTS ON GOAL - Wentworth 15; Nichols 28.
GROUND BALLS - Wentworth 45; Nichols 46
Penalties - Wentworth 3/2:00; Nichols 3/2:00.
MAN-UP OPPORTUNITIES - Wentworth 0-3; Nichols 1-3.
TURNOVERS - Wentworth 35; Nichols 25.
FACEOFFS - Wentworth 8-16; Nichols 8-16.
CLEARS - Wentworth 19-30; Nichols 25-31.
GOALIES - WIT: Jared Proulx 2-4 (60:52 minutes, 28 shots-21 saves, 7 GA); NC: Scott Gray 3-4 (60:52, 15-9, 6).
