Box Score

DUDLEY, Mass. – Senior Emily Widdison (Greenfield, Mass.) and sophomore Avery Orszulak (Springfield, Mass.) each scored twice for the Nichols College field hockey team, which improved to 3-0 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) with a 5-0 win over Gordon College Saturday afternoon at Vendetti Field.

Sophomore Molly Melanson (Simsbury, Conn.) made seven saves to earn her third shutout of the season (one shared) and second-straight against a conference foe as the Bison (7-3) ran their winning streak to three. Nichols outshot the Fighting Scots 27-10 on the afternoon – including 16-5 in the second half.

Nichols scored the only goal it would need at 16:10 of the opening stanza as Widdison's team-leading 14th tally of the season off her own rebound gave her squad a 1-0 lead. Less than five minutes later, Orszulak broke down the left side uncontested, and the keeper came out to challenge her. Orszulak went to her right and around the keepers pads, letting a shot go that rolled into a vacated cage that doubled the Bison lead at 20:21.

In the second half, Orszulak's potted her seventh goal of the season, running down the left side before tucking a shot inside the left post at 53:11 to make it a 3-0 contest. Widdison collected a loose ball in tight and poked it past the keeper at 65:38 for a 4-0 Nichols lead before freshman Emily Broughton's (Grantham, Mass.) shot found the back of the net to close the scoring at 69:08.

“I felt we dominated the game. We had a few lapses where our goalkeeper came up big,” said Bison head coach Kristan Mallet. “The good news is that we produced some good offense today, scoring five times. We're still working some things out, but being 3-0 in conference is a positive any way you look at it.”

Junior Amanda Broughton (Plymouth, Mass.), sophomores Nicole Simeone (Ashland, Mass.) and Jenn Townsend (Wethersfield, Conn.), and freshmen Meghan Dombkowski (Sagaponack, N.Y.) and Victoria Utter (Stafford Springs, Conn.) anchored the Bison defense while Melanson moved to 6-3 with the win. Junior Anna Bury (Huntingtown, Md.) recorded 13 saves for the Fighting Scots (2-9, 0-3 CCC), who received seven shots from sophomore and leading scorer Karli Balmer (Perkasie, Pa.)

The Bison return to action on Thursday with a 7 p.m. contest at UMass Dartmouth. Gordon hosts Roger Williams Wednesday at 7 p.m.