Box Score DUDLEY, Mass. (Oct. 23) – The Nichols College field hockey team defeated visiting University of New England, 4-0, in its The Commonwealth Coast Conference finale Saturday afternoon at Michael J. Vendetti Field. With the win, Nichols clinches the second seed and a bye in the first round of the TCCC Championship Tournament. The Bison improve to 12-4 overall and 7-1 in conference action. The Nor'Easters dip to 9-6 overall and 6-2 in TCCC action and claim the third seed in the conference tournament.
Chelsea Correia (Seekonk, Mass.) swept in the ball behind her, converting a netfront pass from Eileen Clinton (Londonderry, N.H.) to open the scoring at 5:58.
MaryKate Frodema (Springfield, Mass.) potted a pair of rebounds to put Nichols up, 3-0, by the 24th minute mark.
The senior midfielder put in her own rebound at 21:46 and followed less than two minutes later by flicking in a loose ball off a corner set played by Emily Widdison (Greenfield, Mass.) at 23:07.
The Nor'Easters threatened with five consecutive corners midway through the second half, but the two shots in the spree taken by Bree Tupper were handled by Nichols goalkeeper Krista-Jean Forand (Plymouth, Mass.) and first year back Mandy Broughton (Plymouth, Mass.).
Sophomore Barbara Roy (Springfield, Mass.) tipped in a long pass from Widdison in the 54th minute to cap the scoring.
Forand made six saves in the win, while her counterpart, Ayla Nelson, made 11 first-half saves and finished with 17 in the game. Nichols held an 18-14 advantage in penalty corners in the game.
Nichols hosts Worcester State Wednesday at 4 p.m. for its final regular season game. University of New England travels to Bridgewater State Tuesday at 7 p.m. for its regular-season finale.
Box Score
