Bison get by Seahawks in overtime, 1-0

DUDLEY, Mass. - Junior Michael Schell (So. Windsor, Conn.) scored with 26 seconds left in overtime to lift the Nichols College men's soccer team to a 2-1 Homecoming Weekend victory over visiting Salve Regina Saturday afternoon in The Commonwealth Coast Conference action.

Nichols, which has won four of its last five games, improves to 6-2 overall and 2-2 in TCCC games. Salve Regina evens out at 4-4 overall and 2-2 in conference play.

Sophomore David Johnson (Canterbury, Conn.) flicked the ball ahead to Schell as the extra session was winding down, before the junior sent in a full volley with his left foot from about 10 yards out. The tally marked the second on the year for Schell.

Johnson put the Bison on the board after a scoreless first half, heading in a pass from Brian Ligawiec (Ware, Mass.) into the upper 90 in the 65th minute. The Seahawks Ken Johnson (Colonia, N.J.) responded seven minutes later to knot the game and force the extra session. Tony Lania (Concord, Mass.) took advantage of a missed clear opportunity and sent a through ball back in to Johnson, who netted his second goal of the year.

Nichols junior netminder Brendan Hamilton (No. Attleboro, Mass.) earned the win with three saves, while Kurt Ginthwain (Tolland, Conn.) shouldered the loss with three saves.

"This was a tough result for us to take," said Salve Regina head coach Craig O'Rourke II. "We possessed the ball and controlled the play for long stretches at a time but we struggled to produce enough quality scoring opportunities to secure the result. We're now going into a scheduled day of rest and when we return to training on Monday, we're going to have to find a way to put together a better 90 minutes in our future matches."

Nichols travels to Regis on Wednesday for a 4 p.m. TCCC match, while Salve Regina is back in action on Wednesday when the Seahawks host University of New England in a 4 p.m. conference game.

Courtesy of Nichols sports information