NEW LONDON, Conn. – Sophomore Joey Bradley (Ridgefield, Conn.) scored four goals in leading the Connecticut College men's lacrosse team to a 19-10 season opening victory over Nichols on Saturday evening at Silfen Field.
 
The teams traded goals at the beginning and neither side led by more than two for nearly the entire first half. A major turning point, however, happened with just a few minutes remaining in the second quarter thanks to a strong effort on both sides of the ball by sophomore Jared Rainville (Watertown, Conn.).
 
The Camel attackman caused Nichols' Brandon Slade to cough up the ball on a clear attempt deep in the Bison defensive zone which was collected by Patrick Linehan (Baltimore, Md.). He then received a pass back from Linehan, who fed him the ball through two Bison defenders, and turned around to fire it home with 1:59 on the clock to make it 7-5.
 
Connecticut College (1-0) then got a man-up opportunity and the ball because Rainville was knocked down following his goal, and junior Logan Bowdish (Waterford, Conn.) capitalized by finishing a pass from Rainville with 1:42 remaining. The Camels, who rattled off seven unanswered, went up 13-5 on another strike by Bowdish at 4:15 in the third.
 
Nichols was able to catch up and net back-to-back goals when a Camel was called off for a two-minute unreleasable penalty in the waning minutes of the third, but they could not get any closer the rest of the way. The Camels tacked on six more goals in the fourth quarter alone to earn the 19-10 win.
 
In addition to Bradley, the Camel offense got five-point efforts from sophomore Gus Mazzocca (West Hartford, Conn.) and junior captain Nick Farnham (Falmouth, Maine). Senior captain Toby Almeida (Cumberland, R.I.) won 21 faceoffs and scooped up eight ground balls for Connecticut College, which outshot its opponent 61-36 and dominated the ground game by a 48-17 margin. Senior Billy Dreyer (Columbia, S.C.) made five stops between the posts.
 
Hunter Ferreira led Nichols (0-2) with two goals and two assists, while Connor Santoni netted a hat trick. Jasin Griffin was charged with the loss in the cage despite making 14 saves in nearly 48 minutes of action.