DUDLEY, Mass. – Junior Rachel Dalrymple (Belvidere, N.J.) scored her first goal of the season in Nichols College's 4-1 loss to WPI in non-conference field hockey action Thursday afternoon at Vendetti Field.

Sophomore Caroline Mazzola (Harvard, Mass.) recorded a goal and an assist for the Engineers, who evened their record at 4-4 with the win. Freshman Jena Mazzucco (Danbury, Conn.) picked up the game-winning goal off a pass from Mazzola.

WPI sophomore Shannon Rice (Bath, Maine) put the visitors ahead 1-0 with her fourth goal of the season 15:29 into the contest. Following a defensive save by Nichols sophomore Victoria Utter (Stafford Springs, Conn.), Rice knocked the rebound past junior goalie Molly Melanson (Simsbury, Conn.).

Dalrymple tied the game at one when she knocked a rebound off junior Kaylee McNamara's (Watertown, Mass.) shot into an empty net at 26:11. Exactly four minutes later, Mazzola send a cross to Mazzucco, who buried the eventual game-winner into the right corner at 30:11.

Late in the second half, Mazzola's third goal of the season off another defensive save pushed the WPI lead to 4-1, and Richardson capped the scoring three minutes later when she converted a feed from junior Nicole Holmes (Plymouth, Mass.) into her fourth goal of the season.

"Scoring is a problem for us right now," said Nichols head coach Kristan Mallet. "We're not getting good shots. We're just putting the ball on net, so it's deceiving. Sometimes, when you control the offense, you get caught off-guard on defense. If we're going to get better as a team, we have to get better on defense. It's as simple as that."

WPI outshot the Bison 16-12. Melanson finished with eight saves while sophomore Lauren Puishys (Oxford, Mass.) made seven to move to 1-2 on the season.

The Bison return to action on Saturday with a 6:00 p.m. contest at Western New England. WPI hosts MIT Saturday at 10 a.m.