Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. - Sophomore Grace Murphy (Montclair, Va.) scored the lone Nichols goal early in a 6-1 defeat by Division I Holy Cross on Saturday night in an ECAC Women's East contest at the Hart Recreation Center. With the win, the Crusaders improve to 4-2-1 on the year and 3-2-1 in the league while the Bison slip to 2-4-0 overall and 0-4-0 in conference action.

Murphy coralled her own rebound and knocked it home with just 1:03 off the clock. The hosts then scored a pair of goals in each period as 13 Crusaders picked up at least a point the 6-1 victory. Sophomore Chelsea Monahan (Cherry Hill, N.J.) paced Holy Cross with two goals on the night as freshman Kati Goguen (Acton, Mass.) and sophomore Francesca Panarelli (Shrewsbury, Mass.) each notched a goal and an assist.

Nichols looked to cut into the Holy Cross 4-1 advantage as the Bison took 14 shots - four on net - during a power play that began at 18:45 in the second period. For the game, sophomore Alyssa Bufis (Linden, N.J.) led the Bison with five shots on goal while Murphy and junior Megan Gerein (Dubque, Iowa) each took aim three times. Junior Bridget Griffin (North Billerica, Mass.) and sophomore Tawny Buelow (Winthrop, Mass.) also took a pair of shots on goal for the visitors.

Bison rookie goaltender Nia Kelly (Cary, N.C.) stopped a game-high 25 shots in the defeat and dipped to 2-4-0 on the season. Sophomore Alexandra Stevens (Norwood, N.Y.) evened out at 1-1-1 as she made 18 stops in the win.

Trinity (Conn.), receiving votes in the most recent USCHO.com Division III Women's Poll, will visit Levy Rink on Tuesday for an 8:10 p.m. matchup with the Bison.  Nichols upended the Bantams last season by a score of 3-2. Holy Cross entertains Wesleyan on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.