Box Score

HARRISVILLE, R.I. – Senior Francesca Palazzo (Bernardston, Mass.) made 22 saves for Nichols College, which suffered a 1-0 loss to Southern Maine University in Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Women's East action Friday night at Levy Rink.

After several quality scoring chances by the Bison in the third period – including a breakaway by junior Grace Murphy (Montclair, Va.) one minute in – Huskies freshman Ally Vanidestine (Bangor, Maine) scored the game-winning goal at 18:02 with a shot that tricked through the five-hole of Palazzo. Senior Erin Banfield (Montpelier, Vt.) picked up the lone assist on Vanidestine's third goal of the season.

The Bison outshot the Huskies 17-10 over the first two periods and finished the contest with a 26-23 edge. Junior Alyssa Bufis (Linden, N.J.) led the Bison with five shots – including a short-handed opportunity early in the third that nearly got by junior goalie Liz Bergstrom (Chanhassen, Minn.). Murphy was next with five shots.

"We're proud of the effort. We outshot them and deserved to win, which is what makes this one sting a little more," said Nichols head coach Wil Brown. "We outworked them for 60 minutes but couldn't get a bounce. We had a couple of opportunities to score, but we ran up against a good goalie. We didn't bury our chances when we had them, and that's a recipe for defeat. You can't fault the ladies, though. They outworked their opponent tonight, and as a coaching staff, that's all we can ask for."

Nichols had the only power play opportunity of the first period and fired two shots on goal. The period closed with the home team holding an 8-5 advantage in that category. The Bison continued their strong play in the second period as they killed off two Southern Maine power plays, then had the three best scoring chances of the stanza. Junior Jordan Fencl (Amana, Iowa) grabbed a rebound off a point shot from Murphy and let go of a shot that was snared by the catching glove of Bergstrom.

Later in the second period, junior Talia Hohmann (Marion, California) had two terrific chances to break the scoreless tie. Her first scoring chance from the slot was kicked out by Bergstrom. Hohmann then found herself all alone in the slot seconds later, but her shot targeted for the five-hole was saved. Murphy had a team-high three shots in the second.

Bergstrom finished with 26 saves to move to 5-0-0 on the season. Palazzo fell to 0-2-0 with the loss. Vanidestine led the Huskies (5-0-0, 4-0-0 ECAC Women's East) with five shots.  

The Bison (0-4-0, 0-3-0 ECAC Women's East) entertain Plymouth State Saturday at 4:40 p.m. The Huskies travel to Manhattanville tomorrow for a 4 p.m. contest.