DUDLEY, Mass. – The Nichols College women's soccer team has earned the No. 8 seed in the 2014 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship and will travel to take on No. 1 seed Roger Williams on Saturday, November 1st at 2:00 p.m.

The Bison are making their 13th CCC postseason appearance in the program's 20-year history in the conference. It is the third trip to the postseason under head coach Damir Pesa and the first since the 2011 campaign.

Nichols (7-11-0, 2-7-0 CCC) is led by CCC Rookie of the Year Meghan Dunn (Dudley, Mass.), who finished the regular season on top of the stat sheet in goals (11), assists (2), points (24), shots (62), and game-winning goals (4) for the Bison. Her efforts leave her tied for second in the conference in goals, third in points, and fourth in both shots and game-winning goals. Seven other student-athletes have scored goals for the Bison this season.

Defensively, the Bison are led by CCC Honorable Mention honoree senior Erica Antonison (Albertson, N.Y.). Antonison is the anchor to the Bison back line. Junior goaltender Kelly English (Mansfield, Mass.) finished the year with a record of 4-10-0 including three shutouts. She finished the regular season fifth in the conference in saves (77). Senior Sarah Whitestone (Dalton, Mass.) ended the year 3-1-0 with one shutout.

Roger Williams (15-2-3, 7-0-2 CCC) is led by CCC Offensive Player of the Year junior Mariah Kaiser (Portsmouth, R.I.). Kaiser leads the conference or is tied for the lead in all major scoring categories. Her 14 goals, 35 points and six game-winning goals ranks Kaiser all alone atop the CCC leaderboard, while her seven assists are tied for second in the conference, just one behind teammate junior Haley Carignan (Scarborough, Maine). Freshman Sydney Martin (Scarborough, Maine) was honored as the CCC Second Team goaltender. Martin's 0.47 goals against average (GAA), 14 wins, and eight shutouts top the conference.

Nichols has not advanced to the semifinal round since 2004 under then-head coach Chris Traina. The Bison have dropped their last 11 matches against the Hawks with the last win coming in 2004. Roger Williams defeated the Bison during the regular season 1-0 after a goal scored by junior Carla Salcedo (Mexico City, Mexico) in the 15th minute.

"I think as long as we come out and play as a team with a fire in our belly for this conference game we will be fine," said Pesa. "We gave them quite a scare at home earlier in the year. I am looking forward to it and I know the girls are excited to be in the playoffs."

The other quarterfinal matchups on Saturday include No. 2 Endicott (10-4-4, 6-2-1 CCC) hosting No. 7 Wentworth (8-8-2, 3-5-1 CCC) at 11:00 a.m., No. 3 Eastern Nazarene (9-9-0, 6-3-0 CCC) against No. 6 Western New England (7-8-4, 4-3-2 CCC) at 11:00 a.m., and No. 4 UNE (11-3-2, 5-2-2 CCC) playing No. 5 Gordon (12-6-0, 5-4-0 CCC) at 12:00 p.m.