WHITTIER, CA – Junior attack Riley Olds dropped in nine points on six goals and three assists to lead all scorers as Vassar College posted an 18-10 win over Nichols College in neutral site men's lacrosse action on Monday afternoon at Whittier College. The Brewers move to 4-2 on the season, while the Bison drop to 1-4 overall.

The Brewers jumped out to the early lead as junior midfielder James Nicholas scored at the 14:37 mark off a feed from senior captain Logan Hyde. Vassar continued to pepper the Nicholas goal as shots by senior midfielder Tommy Van Pelt and Connor Deehan were both stopped by Bison's keeper Billy Heller, but it was sophomore attacker Troy Santise that finally broke through.

Off a nice pass from Olds, Santise fired a shot in past Heller at the 13:37 mark for the 2-0 lead. Less than 10 seconds later, the Brewers capitalized once again, this time from Olds, who converted a pass from rookie Shane O'Hara at the corner for the tally.

Nichols battled back, winning the face-off at 13:23 and taking it into the zone. The ball ended up in the hands of Kyle Ettenhofer, who buried it in past Vassar goalie Jack Bagin at 13:15 of the first quarter. Later in the frame, the Brewers charged up the field on the clear as the ball landed in the stick of Olds in the middle. Sending a quick past to the far side, the shot was buried in by sophomore attack Dylan McFarland for the 4-1 advantage at 4:49.

Despite a man-up opportunity for the Bison, Vassar's Bagin held strong in goal, stopping a Connor Santoni shot as the Brewers cleared it to the other end soon after. Rookie attack Shane O'Hara made it a four-goal (5-1) lead for Vassar, catching a pass on the near side before crashing in around a defender. Squaring up against the goalie, O'Hara fired the ball in over the shoulder for the tally.
Back-to-back saved shots by Bagin came in the final two minutes of the contest and another score by Santise – this time from Nicholas - sent the Brewers into the second stanza up 6-1 over Nichols.

Second quarter action saw the Brewers continue to roll, this time by Van Pelt, who caught a quick pass from sophomore Jordan Scherer and fired in a shot from 10-yards out on the far side for the six-goal (7-1) advantage. The offense continued to roll 40 seconds later as senior midfielder Logan Hyde passed it to Deehan in the low slot as he fired into the right corner at 13:34. Another Olds score 30 seconds later made it a 9-1 margin for the Brewers.

The Bison finally broke through at the 10:51 mark as Ryan Warner crashed in front of the net, dropping a shot in past Bagin to close the gap to 9-2 in the second. The margin was widened once again at 7:36 as Olds fed sophomore attack Ian Zumpano for his first of the contest, to open the lead back to eight (10-2).

Vassar sophomore midfielder John Wapner was next to hit the scoresheet for the Brewers as he was fed the ball by Olds from 15 yards out. Sitting low in front of the net, Wapner caught the ball, turned and fired for the 11-2 lead at 6:01.

Bagin was sensational over the final 5:57 of the second stanza, saving four shot attempts to keep Nichols off the scoreboard. The Brewers closed out the frame as Hyde scored with a blistering shot the went at the keeper's feet for a 12-2 margin that held into halftime.

Third quarter action got off to a back-and-forth start as both teams worked to add to their goal totals. The Bison were the first to find the back of the net as Cian Keohane drove in and sent the ball past Bagin on the man-up at 9:23 to cut the deficit to 12-3.

Nichols countered once against at the 9:09 mark as Keohane scored once again to make it an eight-goal (12-4) contest once again. Out of a Nichols timeout at the 8:52 mark, the Bison converted once again as Blake Covell fired a shot in from 15-yards out for a 12-5 score.  

Persistent work in front of the Nichols net paid off for the Brewers once more as rookie Matteo Roman fed a pass to Olds, who sent it in past Heller for a 13-5 margin at 5:32 of the frame. The outstanding defense by the Brewers continued as junior keeper Aidan Gallagher came on in relief of Bagin, recording back-to-back saves late to keep Nichols at bay.

With 2:45 left to play, the Bison got one back, dropping the advantage to 13-6 as Hunter Ferriera converted off the clear attempt to make it a seven-goal game once more. But Olds once again found his offensive momentum, firing in a shot at 1:51 for a 14-6 margin.

Fourth quarter action got off to a quick start for the Bison as Keohane scored less than two minutes into the stanza for a 14-7 margin. The Bison capitalized once more with 4:59 to play as it was Keohane once again, converting an assist from Colby Gillis for a man-up tally past rookie goalie Drew Quinn.

Nichols closed the gap once more less than 30 seconds later, making it a 14-9 game as Jack Ellis converted a pass from Santoni. The Brewers responded with 3:02 to play as Olds buried a Deehan pass for his fifth goal of the game. That effort was followed 10 seconds later by rookie attack Jack Rufa as he collected a feed from Hess for the Brewers 16th tally (16-9). Olds converted for his sixth of the game and Rufa scored his second goal of the contest at the 1:29 mark, converting a pass from Scherer for the 18-9 lead.

Nichols responded following a goal from sophomore middie Jordan Scherer, nabbing their 10th goal on a Jarrod Sweeney score with 1:29 to go, but Vassar held strong to close out the frame and win their third straight game.

For the game, the Brewers went 26-of-29 on the clear, winning the ground ball margin by a 40-31 tilt. Vassar was 1-for-1 on the extra-man opportunity and committed just 15 turnovers in the contest to Nichols' 21. The Bison led the game in shots, 35-34 and shots on goal, 27-23.

In addition to Olds, who also saw all six of his shots go on goal, the Brewers got two goals and an assist from McFarland. Santise added two goals, while Hyde and Deehan had a goal and two helpers. Deehan dropped in a goal and an assist as well, while Rufa notched two goals. Hess posted an assist and a team-high nine ground balls to go along with a game-high four caused turnovers. Sophomore midfielder Michael Barbera paced the effort in the face-off circle, going 7-of-20, adding two ground balls as well.

For Nichols, Keohane had three tallies with a ground ball and a caused turnover. Warner added two goals, while Scott Ehrenberg led the way with a game-best nine ground balls, also going 16-of-24 from the face-off circle to lead all players.

In goal, Vassar was led by Bagin, who played 30 minutes and recorded 11 saves. Gallagher recorded six saves playing the third quarter, while Quinn played 12 minutes in the fourth quarter before giving way to sophomore Danny Goldman, who was not forced to make a save over the final three minutes. For Nichols, Heller played 30 minutes and made three saves before giving way to Brady Morgan, who stopped two shots in the third and fourth quarters.

Vassar returns to the East Coast and is back on the field on Saturday, opening Liberty League action on Saturday with a 12pm game at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.