Box Score HARRISVILLE, R.I. (Dec. 4) – Junior forward Mandy Manopla (West Palm Beach, Fla.) had a goal and two assists as the Nichols College women's ice hockey team defeated Castleton State, 3-2, in ECAC Women's East action Saturday afternoon at June Rockwell Levy Rink. The Bison pick up their first ECAC win of the season and see their three-game losing streak come to an end while improving to 2-6-0 overall and 1-6-0 in conference play. Castleton dips to 3-4-1 overall and 2-3-1 in league action.

Nichols held a 13-9 shot advantage in the opening stanza, registering seven shots in four power play opportunities, but it was Castleton State who took 1-0 lead at 14:47 on a Hannah Martini goal. Jade Werger centered the puck from behind the net to Martini who wristed the puck glove side.

Nichols had its best opportunities late in the frame, including a 14 second five-on-three power play that saw the Bison pepper Spartans goaltender Amanda Hoy with three shots. Nichols' best opportunity, however, came just after the first penalty expired when Manopla clanged a shot off the post from the left circle.

Nichols evened the score in the opening minute of the second period when Megan Gerein (Dubuque, Iowa) notched her third goal of the season. Gerein stripped a Castleton player of the puck and chipped it across to Manopla as the pair entered the neutral zone. Manopla touched it ahead and across to Gerein as she came in on net one-on-one on the Spartans net for the rookie to send over the blocker side shoulder of Hoy 51 seconds into the stanza.

The Bison took advantage of another Spartan defensive miscue just past the midpoint of the middle frame to take a 2-1 lead. Emily Larosa (Weymouth, Mass.) intercepted a clearing attempt inside the Castleton blue line and passed inside to Manopla, who slipped the puck through Hoy's five hole at 12:52.
The Spartans threatened late on a 4-on-3 power play when Martini won the faceoff back to Kaitlin Hayes at the right point for the defender to send it across the ice to Christine Newton who was waiting in the left circle to one-time it into the upper right corner with 18.8 seconds left in the game.

Nichols goalkeeper Francesca Palazzo (Bernardston, Mass.) made 24 saves in the win while Hoy finished with 30 stops.

The Bison finished 1-for-10 on the power play, with Manopla drawing five calls. Nichols held the Spartans to one goal in seven opportunities and outshot the visitors, 33-26, in the game.

Nichols is s back in action on Tuesday in a 7 p.m. non-conference game at Wesleyan before ending the semester at home next Friday with their first-ever matchup against Neumann at 7:40 p.m. The Spartans close out the semester with a 3 p.m. home conference game against New England College on Saturday, December 11.

Box Score