DUDLEY, Mass – In their final game before the start of conference play this weekend, the Buccaneer men's soccer team traveled to Dudley to take on the Nichols Bison. Though the Bucs scored the first, and the final two goals, the Bison came out on top, 4-3.

The Basics

Final: Nichols 4, Maritime 3

Records: Nichols 3-1

               Maritime 0-5

For The Bucs

• Sophomore CJ Vincent (Carver, MA) scored two goals in the game for the Bucs, The first of his career came in the 11^th minute on a penalty kick. He scored his second in the 52^nd minute, unassisted.
• Freshman Quinn Kelly (West Roxbury, MA) scored the first of his career in the 62^nd minute, unassisted.
• Vincent led the team with six shots, three on target. Ty Chafa (Quincy, MA) took four shots with two on goal. Kelly's goal was his only shot of the game. Rob Rutkai (Annapolis, MD) and McNeill Somers (Boston, MA) each took two shots for the Buccaneers.
• Starting goalkeeper John Murphy (Braintree, MA) faced six shots, made two saves and allowed four goals. Sophomore keeper Jordi Bazan (Panama City, Panama) made his Bucs debut in the second half and made one save.
• Maritime took 19 shots total, eight on goal. They also took eight corner kicks, seven of which came in the second half.

For The Bison

• Nicholas McGrath scored twice for the hosts, once on a penalty kick, on three shots on target, six in total. Colby Knight and Nicholas De Paula each scored in the win.
• Ethan Gosper and Vinny Gattuso both had assists for Nichols.
• Goalkeeper Luke Spears made three saves on four shots faced in the first half. In the second half, Maxwell Azmat took over and made two saves on four shots, allowing two Maritime goals.
• All together, the Bison took 15 shots, seven on target. They took seven corners in the game.

How It Happened

Maritime took the momentum from the kick off and ran with it. They took the first three shots on the game in the first 10 minutes. In the 11^th minute, a foul called on Nichols in the box gave the Buccaneers a chance to go up 1-0 early on. Coach Perry tapped Vincent to take the pen and he delivered giving the Bucs that 1-0 lead, scoring his first career goal. For 12 minutes, the Bison tried to erase the deficit while the Bucs held the momentum taking a handful of shots as they tried to extend their lead. In the 24^th minute on a corner kick from Vinny Gattuso, Nichols broke through, tying the game on McGrath's first goal of the game. Nichols kept up their scoring ways throughout the first half. In the 33^rd minute the Bucs committed a foul of their own inside the 18 yard box, giving the Bison an opportunity to take the lead. McGrath put the kick from the spot past Murphy to make it 2-1 Bison. Just over a minute later, the hosts found the back of the net again, this time on an unassisted strike from Colby Knight. What was a 1-0 advantage for the Buccaneers had turned in to a 3-1 Bison lead. Nichols still wasn't done with their first half scoring as for the second time in the half, the Bison scored directly from a corner kick set piece. This time, De Paula scored on Gosper's delivery in to the box to give the Bison a commanding 4-1 lead in the 38^th minute. A lot of midfield play settled the teams for the remainder of the first half and the Bison took their 4-1 advantage in to the halftime break.

The second half was all Maritime as they outshot the Bison 8-4, out cornered them 7-2, and outscored them. Maritime wasted little time attempting to get back in to the match. In the 52^nd minute, Vincent found a way through, scoring his second goal of the day and the season to cut the Bison lead to two goals. In the 62^nd minute, Kelly scored his first of his young career to bring the deficit to one with more than 25 minutes to play. The Buccaneers continued to get corners and set piece opportunities, bringing on fresh legs to keep the Bison on their toes, but in the end Nichols kept their guests from tying the game down the stretch to take the 4-3 victory in a thrilling match.

What's Next?

The Bucs are back on the road Saturday to take on Fitchburg State in their first MASCAC contest of the 2021 season. Live stats and stream of the game will be available at mmabucs.com.