Worcester, Mass. – In a game that featured almost everything a soccer match could offer, host Clark University rang up three first half goals en route to a 4-2 win over Worcester-area rival Nichols College in a driving rain on Wednesday evening in non-conference men's soccer action.

With the win, the Cougars exact some revenge on the Bison, who shut them out 2-0 a season ago on their way to the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

In this year's matchup was different almost from the start as Clark got on the board with help from Nichols when the Bison scored an own goal less than four minutes into the contest.

The Cougars then wasted little time notching a conventional goal when Gianluca Ranallo (Scarsdale, N.Y.) found Zachary Doenmez (Dublin, N.H.), who fired a rocket off of his right foot that beat Brendan Hamilton (North Attleboro, Mass.), upping the Clark edge to 2-0 just 4:46 into the match. The goal Hamilton allowed was the first one he has given up this season, snapping his consecutive shutout streak.

The lead could have been increased following a penalty shot attempt by Adrian Blackadar (Warwick, R.I.). Blackadar, who converted a PK in Sunday's dramatic win over Becker in the Worcester City Tournament, saw this attempt sail wide left and the score remained 2-0.

Less than ten minutes later, however, Josh Demers (Warwick, R.I.) found freshman Oscar Zapata (Lima Peru) behind the Bison defense and he deposited his fourth goal of the season at the 17:21 mark.

Nichols responded less than two minutes later when Carter Rouleau (Hopkinton, N.H.) set up Andrew Conklin (Wading River, N.Y.) at 19:05 to make the score 3-1.

Momentum stayed with the Bison after intermission and with less than a minute gone by in the second stanza, Issac Alvaregna (Marlborough, Mass.) headed home a ball served into the box by Phil Mitto (Windsor, Conn.), pushing Nichols closer at 3-2.

Clark put the game away at the 58 minute mark when Blackadar fed Doenmez for his second marker of the contest.

The game, which featured four yellow cards and 15 fouls, saw three combined goalies needing to make just four combined saves.

Hamilton and his backup, Alex Ucevicious (Milford, Mass.) each made a single save, while Cougar netminder, Ryan King (Brimfield, Mass.) made a pair of stops to pick up his third consecutive win.

Clark, now 3-0, returns to the field on Saturday when they host Brandeis, while the Bison play host to Commonwealth Coast Conference foe Gordon on Saturday as well.