MILTON, Mass. – The Curry College men's lacrosse team was edged by conference opponent Nichols College on Wednesday night at Walter M. Katz Field by an 11-9 final. The Bison improved to 9-2 overall and 2-1 in league play. The Colonels slip to 5-4 overall and 0-2 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) with the loss.
Brayden Carroll (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and Jack Campanale (Shrewsbury, Mass.) led the way for Nichols for four points apiece. Carroll finished with a hat trick plus an assist while Campanale had a goal and three helpers. Six other Bison entered the scoring column on the night.
Andrew DeLeary (Wakefield, Mass.) tallied three goals to pace Curry. Matt Serra (Haverhill, Mass.) chipped in with two goals while MJ Urbano (Wakefield, Mass.) and Devin Newell (Medford, Mass.) handed out two assists each.
MacKenzie Martin (Merrimack, N.H.) gave Nichols the first lead of the day with a score a little over six minutes into the contest. The Colonels answered back 13 seconds later as Newell potted his first to even the score. Curry took the lead on DeLeary's goal with 8:32 remaining in the period and would trade goals to end the first quarter with a 3-3 score, thanks to a goal from Bison goalie Brian McKinley (Nashua, N.H.) with 37 seconds to go in the frame.
The Colonels opened the second quarter with two straight goals, one apiece from Jake Stebbins (Colchester, Vt.) and DeLeary. Nichols registered the final two goals over the final 13:23 of the half, one each from Casey Campanale (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and Brayden Carroll (Shrewsbury, Mass.) to deadlock the squads going into the half, 5-5.
Curry struck first in the second half as Serra scored on a pass from Newell, but Nichols fired back with a 3-0 run over the remainder of the quarter. Jack Campanale tallied a man-up goal off an assist from Carroll while he would find the back of the net with 3:22 to go, with the assist going to Casey Campanale. Thomas Astle buried a shot for the final goal of the quarter, the marker coming down as unassisted to give Nichols an 8-6 lead heading into the final stanza.
Casey Campanale opened the fourth-quarter scoring to bump the lead to 9-6, and the Bison defense protected the margin for the rest of the game. The Colonels were able to score three times during the final frame, pulling to within as few as one when Urbano netted a shot off a Tom Cashin (Boxford, Mass.) helper with 5:07 left in regulation. Nichols added an insurance tally when Brendan Coates (Grafton, Mass.) with 2:25 left as the game would end in a two-goal deficit, 11-9.
Regis midfielder Zach White (Milford, Conn.) won 17 of 21 face-offs and scooped up a team-high 10 ground balls. The Colonels held a 50-28 edge in the category.
Josh Teller (Milford, Conn.) finished with seven saves against 15 shots. The loss was credited to Jake Sangiovanni (Centerport, N.Y.), making one save over 15 minutes of action. The win was credited to McKinley, converting 11 saves against 20 shots.
Curry will return to action on Saturday, April 7 at Gordon at 3:00 p.m. Nichols will next host Salve Regina University on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
