DUDLEY, Mass. (Feb. 22) – Coming off the most successful season in program history, the Nichols College women's hockey team will make its third consecutive postseason appearance as the team will travel to top-seeded Norwich University (22-2-1, 17-0-1) on Saturday for a 3:00 p.m. ECAC Women's East quarterfinal matchup.
 
Nichols (7-16-2, 4-12-2) clinched the eighth seed last Friday night with a 4-1 triumph over visiting Plymouth State.
 
Admission for the game will be $5 for adults and $3 for students. A free webcast will be available for those not making the trek.
 
Senior assistant captain Mandy Manopla led the way this season as she became the first to eclipse 50 career points in the program's short history and has set the benchmark in a number of categories. She looks to reach the 100-game milestone on Saturday. The forward has been atop the national rankings for individual shorthanded goals for much of the season.
 
The three shorthanded goals by Manopla helped the Bison remain among the team leaders in the category with five and share the second spot with Manhattanville and Saint Thomas as all three trail only Norwich. Nichols has also been consistently in the top-10 for penalty kill efficiency and completed the regular season in fifth (89.2 %).
 
On January 20th, Nichols set the single-season wins record with its fifth win of the season at Saint Michael's as first-year Kerri Nadeau scored 34 seconds into overtime to propel the Bison to a 3-2 triumph. The record would be bested a week later with a 3-2 win in front of a home crowd as Nichols defeated UMass-Boston when sophomore Megan Gerein scored with 2.0 seconds remaining on the scoreboard. Last Friday night the Bison extended it to seven games with the win against Plymouth State.
 
First-year goaltender Tori Gianformaggio collected five of the seven Bison victories between the pipes. Her first win came over Trinity, currently #9 in the latest regional rankings, and followed up with an overtime win at Williams. Gianformaggio was in net for three of the four conference triumphs.
 
Senior captain Courtney Carey and junior assistant captain Mary Fehr along with the rest of the defensive corps will have their hands full as defending national champion Norwich boasts 13 players with double-digit point totals and six with more than 10 goals on the season.
 
The Cadets are paced by senior Julie Fortier who has posted team-bests of 26 goals and 47 points this season. Junior Jillayne DeBus is second in points (41) and leads the team with 25 helpers. Sophomore goalie Kelly Fisk has registered 15 of the 22 wins as classmate Joanie Plamondon has posted the remaining seven for the Cadets.
 
Nichols faced the Cadets in last season's ECAC East quarterfinals, dropping an 8-0 decision at Kreitzburg Arena in Northfield. The Bison had previously taken on Manhattanville in their first playoff appearance in 2010.