WORCESTER, Mass. – The Clark University men's lacrosse team (0-2) played their first home game of the season on Sunday afternoon when they welcomed Nichols (2-1) to Granger Field and fell 8-6 to the Bison.

How it Happened

• Nichols opened the game with a goal from CJ Cadigan before Clark's goalie, graduate student Ryan Mickelson made a pair of saves.
• The Cougars got shots on target from sophomore Alex D'Entrone and junior Patrick Liddy that were stopped before sophomore Matt Wells put a shot on goal that was saved with 6:39 to go in the first quarter on the man-up opportunity.
• Graduate student Benjamin Hollerbach tied the game with 4:51 remaining in the first with a goal off a feed from Wells to tie the game at 1-1.
• Neither team was able to put a shot on target over the final 4:51 of the quarter as both defenses controlled the pace in a 1-1 contest.
• Hollerbach and D'Entrone each put shots on goal that were stopped at the beginning of the second quarter before the Bison netted a man-down goal to take a 2-1 edge.
• Hollerbach nearly tied the game with 5:41 left in the second with a shot that hit the post, but Nichols extended the lead to 3-1 on a goal from Jack Ellis.
• Wells found Hollerbach with 0:50 remaining in the second quarter and Hollerbach found the back of the net as Clark trailed 3-2 at the half.
• Nichols scored a pair of goals to open the third quarter, but Mickelson responded with a pair of saves over the next three minutes.
• After the Bison went up 7-2, Hollerbach netted his third goal of the game off a feed from Liddy with 1:08 to go in the third as Clark trailed 7-3.
• The Cougars opened the fourth quarter with a pair of goals within the first two minutes of play as Wells and graduate student Mark Zito scored to make it a 7-5 game with 13:53 to play.
• Nichols extended the lead to 8-5 with 7:01 remaining off a goal from Hunter Ferreira and Clark nearly came within two of the lead multiple times with shots from Liddy and senior Daniel Cook that were saved.
• Wells scored with 0:39 to go to make it a 8-6 game and after Zito won the next faceoff, junior Attilio LaVecchia hit the post as the Cougars fell to the Bison.

Inside the Box Score

• Clark fired 36 shots, scooped up 33 ground balls, and forced 25 turnovers.
• Hollerbach led the team with three goals and dished out an assist.
• Wells added a pair of goals and two assists.
• Zito netted the other Clark goal and scooped up five ground balls.
• Mickelson recorded six saves in the contest.

What's Next

Men's lacrosse will return to action on Wednesday, March 8 when they travel to Florida Southern for a non-conference contest beginning at 1:00 p.m.