WALTHAM, Mass. – Bentley University got its Northeast-10 campaign off to a good start with a 9-2 win over Pace on Saturday afternoon behind four goals from senior Brendan Grant (Walpole, Mass./Xaverian Brothers). Senior Richard Travers (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow) had three assists.

The Falcons dominated the first half and shutout their visitors over the first 30 minutes to lead 6-0 at halftime. Grant and senior J.D. Ayer (Rochester, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit) both had two goals at this point. Though Bentley only scored three times in the second half, Pace never threatened to make a comeback.

Bentley, which went 3-9 on extra-man opportunities, converted two straight chances in the first quarter into goals. Travers scored the first goal of the game, with a Pace player in the box, to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead at the 11:15 mark. Four-and-a-half minutes later it was sophomore Mike Carter (Walpole, Mass./Thayer Academy) converting a pass from Travers in a man-up situation to make it 2-0. Grant scored late in the quarter to make it 3-0 for Bentley after 15 minutes.

Ayer had two straight unassisted goals in the second quarter to make it 5-0, and Grant closed out the half with an unassisted strike for a 6-0 advantage.

Pace finally got on the board when senior John Kolesar scored 4:37 into the second half, but sophomore Nick Astarita (Bedford, N.H./Bishop Guertin) and Grant had the only other two goals of the third quarter as the Falcons led comfortably 8-1 after three.

Bentley picks up its first win of the season and is now 1-2 overall, 1-0 in the NE-10, while the Setters drop to 1-3 and 0-1. The Falcons will travel up to Vermont on Tuesday for its only game of the week at Saint Michael's for a 3:30 p.m. start.