DUDLEY, Mass. – Led by Donny Delpha's (Walpole, Mass.) hat-trick and a strong defensive showing in the fourth quarter lacrosse earned a 9-7 non-conference win over Nichols College Tuesday evening at Vendetti Field.

With Tuesday's victory the Beacons improve to 2-2 on the year, while the Bison fell to 0-1.  Nichols was originally scheduled to play two games prior to Tuesday's contest, but with the unexpected snowstorm that hit New England both of those games were postponed.

Of Delpha's team-leading three tallies, two came in the final 15 minutes of play which gave the Beacons the edge they needed to earn the victory.  His third of the night was a man-up, marking the first for the reigning conference Rookie of the Year.

Delpha also finished third on the team in groundballs with five.  Ed McDonald (Waltham, Mass.) collected six, while senior netminder Henry Bristol (South Hadley, Mass.) finished with a game-high seven groundballs.  Bristol had another strong showing in front of the Beacons cage as the combined for 15 saves.

On the night UMass finished 10-for-19 in the face-off "X" and were 19-for-28 clear attempts.  The Bison finished with just one more shot than UMB (36-35), with both teams each scoring two man-up goals.

Also having a multi-score night for the Beacons was Thomas Petitti (Quincy, Mass.) who finished with two goals.  John Powers (Marshfield, Mass.) was the top playmaker as finished with three assists to go with one goal for a game-high four points. 

Chris Litchfield and Michael Bane each finished with three goals, while Sean Coates scooped-up a team-best six groundballs.  Seth Drouin made a total of four saves between the pipes.

UMass started off Tuesday's contest with a huge first quarter as they fired home four goals, while the defense limited the Bison to just one tally.  However in the second, Nichols closed gap with three goals of their own, but UMass was able to go into the halftime break with a one goal (5-4) lead after Delpha notched his first score of the night.

After the break the third quarter saw just one goal from each team, before the Beacons were able to take control of the contest in the fourth.  With two goals from Delpha and one man-up score from Ryan McGoff (Charlestown, Mass.) as well as seven saves from Bristol the Beacons were able to hold-off the Bison, who scored twice in the final 15 minutes of play.

Lacrosse returns to action on Thursday when they face Wentworth Institute of Technology at 3 p.m. at Wentworth Institute.