DUDLEY, Mass. (Feb. 20, 2010) – The Nichols College Women's Hockey team came back to defeat the Castleton State Spartans 5-4 Saturday afternoon in an ECAC East matchup. The win bumps the Bison's record up to 4-15-3 and 4-11-2 conference play. The loss puts the Spartans at 4-19-1 and 4-13-1 in conference play. Sophomore Hannah Tardif (Laconia, N.H) scored two goals in the victory while senior Candice Ellis (Gloucester, Mass.) recorded the game winning goal on senior day with 7:42 left in the third period.

Both teams came out fighting in the first period as they were very close in every statistical category. Castleton State had 11 shots to Nichols 10. Nichols had one more penalty than Castleton, while Nichols won two more face offs in the period. Nichols struck first with a goal 8:13 into the game by sophomore Hannah Tardif (Laconia, N.H.). Castleton answered back when senior Maryanne Diehm beat Nichols' goaltender with 13 seconds left. The goal came with a man down for Castleton. The game went into the second period tied at one.

In the second period Nichols took the lead early on scoring with 16:32 remaining in the period. Hannah Tardif scored her second goal with assists coming from Mandy Manopla (West Palm Beach, Fla.) and Haylie Carter (Forney, Tex.). Laura Szwed tied the game up four minutes later and Sterling Nelson put the Spartans ahead with 9:43 remaining.

In the third Nichols came out with two quick goals from Tardif and junior Ashley O'Donnell (North Scituate, R.I.). Nichols had all the momentum after taking over 4-3, but Castleton tied it up with 13:46 remaining with a goal by Marisse Lorenz. With the score tied at four a piece Ellis scored the game-winning goal with 7:42 remaining.

Nichols put 49 shots on the goal while Castleton had 32. Each team had 10 penalties for 20 minutes and the Spartans held a 35-34 faceoff win advantage.

Nichols and Castleton play again on Monday at noon at Levy Rink. 

Box Score