Rooney Leads Seahawks Past Bison, 8-3
DUDLEY, Mass. - Salve Regina University junior Brendan Rooney (West Newton, Mass.) scored two goals and added two assists to lead the Seahawks to an 8-3 The Commonwealth Coast Conference victory over Nichols at Vendetti Field Wednesday afternoon. The Seahawks improve to 5-4 overall and 2-1 in TCCC action, while the Bison drop to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in league play.
Sophomore Chris Walker (Marshfield, Mass.) added a pair of goals and an assist, and junior Evan Gates (Ridge, N.J.) scored two goals.
Bradley O'Brien (Danbury, Conn.), Devan Maher (Leominster, Mass.) and Austin Healy (Westford, Mass.) scored for the Bison, who also got two assists from Ryan Pacific (Danbury, Conn.).
Healy gave the Bison the early lead in the first quarter, but a fast transition goal by Walker tied the game less than three minutes later.
O'Brien scored a man-up tally to open the second quarter, netting his goal from Pacific at 12:16, but the Seahawks responded with two in the stanza to hold a 3-2 lead at the half. Gates scored at 10:14 and senior Christopher Scanlon (Winchester, Mass.) fed junior Blair Kelley (Lee, N.H.) for his sixth of the season just over a minute later.
Gates and Rooney added two in the third quarter, and Walker opened the fourth with the Seahawks fifth goal in a row before Rooney potted a man-up score at 6:44 to make it 7-2 in favor of Salve Regina.
Maher broke up the scoring with his first of the season at 4:18, and graduate student Cody LaFerriere (Brookside, N.J.) capped the scoring with two and a half minutes left in the game.
Salve Regina freshman goalkeeper Christopher Connors (Garden City, N.Y.) made seven saves to earn the win before giving way to junior Brendan Vaughan (Newton, Mass.), who stopped one shot in the final 3:02. Nichols goalkeeper Scott Gray (Annapolis, Md.) made 17 saves.
The Seahawks held a 53-36 advantage in groundballs and outshot the Bison, 46-18. Nichols won nine of 15 faceoffs, led by eight wins by Tim Dooley (Tewksbury, Mass.).
Nichols travels to Regis for a TCCC game Saturday at 1 p.m. Salve Regina hosts Gordon in a TCCC game Saturday at 4 p.m.
Courtesy of Nichols sports information