Box Score

BIDDEFORD, Maine - Sophomore Grace Murphy (Montclair, Va.) recorded her first collegiate hat-trick and classmate Lisa Coskren (Norwood, Mass.) pitched in with a goal and three helpers as the Bison topped University of New England, 7-4, in a non-conference game at Harold Alfond Forum on Saturday afternoon.
 
The win evened Nichols' record at 2-2 and halted a two-game losing skid. It was the fourth outing of the season for the Nor'easters (0-1), but their first against a varsity program.
 
Murphy notched the fourth hat-trick in program history over the first 25:33 of the contest as the sophomore tied Mandy Manopla '12 for the program record for goals scored in a game. 

Coskren, meanwhile, tied Krista-Jean Forand '12 with a program-best three assists in a game and Manopla for the program lead with four points in a game.

With the scored tied 2-2, Murphy scored back-to-back goals in the early stages of the second period to give Nichols the lead for good. Two of her tallies came on the power play. Coskren and junior Megan Gerein (Dubuque, Iowa) were credited with assists on Murphy's second goal while junior Bridget Griffin (North Billerica, Mass.) added a helper on the sophomore's third marker.

After Murphy built a two-goal advantage for the Bison, sophomore Samantha Vicari (Wayne, N.J.) scored later in the second to give the visitors a 5-2 advantage after two frames with help from Coskren.
 
Nichols extended its lead to 7-2 midway thru the third on markers by sophomore Alyssa Bufis (Linden, N.J.) and Gerein before the Nor'easters found the cage twice in the closing minutes to make the final margin 7-4. Bufis' marker was unassisted while senior Mary Fehr (Leamington, Ontario) and Coskren provided the helpers on Gerein's power play tally.
 
Earlier in the contest Murphy evened the game at 1-1 as she teamed with sophomore Taylor Brown (Winthrop, Mass.) at 13:17. Just over five minutes later, Griffin and Vicari helped setup a goal by Coskren for the 2-1 lead.

The Bison held a 36-19 advantage in shots on goal and converted 3 of 4 power-play opportunities. First-year goaltender Nia Kelly (Cary, N.C.) made 15 stops to pick up the win.
 
UNE was paced offensively by first-years Shannon Reynolds (Belmont, Mass.) and Marissa Clifford-Biederman (Lee, N.H.), who scored two goals apiece. Junior captain Jenni Poulin (Pembroke, N.H.) assisted on three of UNE's four scores.
 
Starter Samantha Scobee (Minnetrista, Minn.) registered 25 saves in just under 50 minutes of action before giving way to Courtney Kendall (Waltham, Mass.), who had four stops the rest of the way.
 
Both teams return to the ice on Friday. Nichols travels to Salve Regina University for a 7:30 p.m. matchup, while the Nor'easters host Franklin Pierce University at 3:30 p.m. 

Contributions from University of New England Sports Information