Mitchell College Men's LAX Falls to Nichols

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Nichols College outscored Mitchell College 11-4 in the second half to post a 15-10 victory in a non-conference men's lacrosse match-up on Wednesday afternoon at Alumni Field.

MacKenzie Martin led all scorers with six goals and two assists to pace the Bison, who improved to 2-4 overall on the season. Tyler Sikich also added a hat trick while James Keane made 10 saves to earn the victory in goal. Kevin D'Angelo was a force at the face-off spot, winning all but one of the 27 draws taken in the contest.

Jacob Setzko netted four goals to lead the Mariners (1-3 overall). Owen LaPorte added two goals and
an assist while McCarthy Brodaski finished with a goal and two helpers.

Setzko supplied all of Mitchell's scoring in the opening quarter, and Sikich was equally up to the task for Nichols. The two traded scores until Setzko's goal with 1:07 left in the period gave the Mariners a 3-2 lead after one.

Martin scored twice in the opening five minutes of the second quarter to give Nichols its first lead. However, Mitchell tied the game a minute later on a tally by Dan DiGioia, and Aaron Sladyk and LaPorte closed out the first-half scoring to give the Mariners a 6-4 cushion at the break.

Nichols outscored Mitchell 7-2 in the third quarter to seize control. The Bison started the half with a man advantage and quickly cashed in as Martin finished off a feed from Matt Feigenblat. Midway through the stanza, back-to-back scores from Anthony Verville put Nichols in front for good. Paul Tessier then closed out the quarter with a goal in the final second to give the Bison an 11-8 advantage heading into the fourth.

Nichols scored the first three goals of the final period to take its biggest lead at 14-8. Martin's final goal came with 4:15 to play and cemented the victory for the visitors.

D'Angelo's stellar face-off performance helped the Bison control possession and limited Mitchell's offensive touches. Nichols finished with a 54-40 edge in shots and a 46-26 advantage in ground balls. Sikich finished with 10 ground balls on the day while Verville scooped up seven.

Mitchell goalie JD LeMay did well to keep the Mariners in the game, finishing with a season-high 23 saves. DiGioia and Brian Jordan each picked up five ground balls.

Mitchell will next play at Rivier University on Saturday, March 26 at 1 p.m. Nichols returns to action at home against Roger Williams University on Saturday at 11 a.m.