BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University Men's Lacrosse team defeated the Nichols College Bison 14-11 at Bayside Field on Wednesday night. The home finale saw numerous lead changes early before the Hawks jumped ahead in the battle for seeding, entering the final week of regular season play.

Hawk Highlights

Tim Mullane: 5 goals, 4 assists

Jared Grier: 2 goals, 3 assists

Matt Halpin: 3 goals, 1 assists

Ryan Phillips: 2 goals, 1 ground balls

Jordan Pivarnik: 8 face-offs won, 2 ground balls

Max Kimmel: 21 saves (Career-High), 11 goals allowed, 60 minutes in goal

For The Opponents

Tyler Ciufo: 1 goal

Cian Keohane: 6 goals, 1 ground ball

Colby Gillis: 2 goals, 1 assist, 3 ground balls

Connor Santoni: 2 goals, 2 assists, 5 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers

Scott Ehrenberg: 18 face-offs won, 11 ground balls

Brady Morgan: 5 saves, 14 goals allowed, 60 minutes in goal

How It Happened

Only 30 seconds of action passed before the first shot found the net as Matt Halpin (Hanover, Mass.) opened up the scoring. Less than 45 seconds later, Nichols evened up the score as Cian Keohane (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) snuck one past Max Kimmel (Milford, Conn.). Nichols would claim their first lead of the game as Keohane scored with the man-advantage. Jack Kester (Londonderry, N.H.) re-tied the game at 9:34, scoring his 18th of the season, and Ryan Phillips (Hanover, Mass.) would net one 20 seconds later to get the Hawks the lead again. Nichols wasn't going away as they returned the favor scoring two goals in under a minute to go up 4-3. The back and forth would continue as Halpin would score his second to tie the score, and Colby Gillis (Northborough, Mass.) and Tim Mullane (Hanover, Mass.) traded goals to leave the score deadlocked at five heading into the second quarter at the conclusion that featured three lead changes.

The Hawks would score quickly as Ryan Vendetti (Farmington, Conn.) rifled one past Brady Morgan (Framingham, Mass.). The back and forth action that lasted six and a half minutes was broken up by three Bison being sent to the box for various penalties. RWU would capitalize 20 seconds into the man advantage as Jared Grier (Quincy, Mass.) would score his 36th on the year, and give the Hawks their largest lead of the night. Two unanswered goals by the Bison would re-tie the score, but it would not last long as Halpin would complete his second hat trick of the season before he would assist Phillips to get the Hawks back in front to conclude the scoring for the first half with Roger Williams leading 9-7

The physical play that closed out the first half, would continue for the first five minutes coming out of the break. Mullane would break the scoreless activity as he was assisted by Grier to get RWU a three-goal lead. The Bison would net two goals in just under five minutes while also locking down on defense to get the score back within one before Grier would net his second of the game. Mullane would then net his 28th with 40 seconds left as the hosts would carry a 12-9 lead into the final frame.

With the Hawks receiving a man-advantage for the first 30 seconds of the final quarter, Mullane capitalized, sending his fourth shot to the promised land, giving the Hawks a four-goal lead. Tyler Ciufo (Stratford, Conn.) would score the Bisons tenth before Mullane would score his fifth to recapture the four-goal lead. With 1:49 left, Connor Santoni (Hartwick, Mass.) would slip one past Kimmel to get the Bison back within three, but that would be all as Roger Williams would go on to secure a .500 or better record in conference play for the 25th consecutive season.

What's Next

Roger Williams (7-9, 4-2): Saturday, April 23 at Univ. of New England @ 1:00pm

Nichols (7-9, 3-4): Saturday, April 23 at Endicott @ 12:00pm