DUDLEY, Mass. – Senior Alyssa Bufis (Linden, N.J.) had four points (3-1-4) as the Nichols College women's lacrosse team fell 19-12 to Western New England in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action Wednesday afternoon at Vendetti Field.

The 12 goals scored for the Bison marks the most goals scored in the program's ten meetings with the Golden Bears. Senior captain Grace Murphy (Montclair, Va.) joined Bufis with a hat trick of her own while five other Bison scored goals in the game, including two from senior Erica Antonison (Albertson, N.Y.).

The Golden Bears were led by junior Tori Cirocco (Carmel, N.Y.) with nine points (5-4-9) and senior Kaitlynn Stevens (Stratford, Conn.) with eight points (3-5-8) while juniors Brooke Kumnick (Granby, Conn.) and Taylor Scialdone (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) each had six.

Nichols (1-4, 0-1 CCC) rushed out to a quick 4-1 lead before Western New England (6-1, 1-0 CCC) rattled off the final 11 of 15 goals to close the first half with a 12-8 lead.

Junior Meghan Dombkowski (Sagaponack, N.Y.) potted her first career goal early in the second half to pull the Bison within three goals, but the Golden Bears took complete control at that point. WNEU scored the next six goals over a ten minute span to stretch the lead to 18-9 with 18:30 to go.

Sophomore Brooke Marion (South Hadley, Mass.) and junior Alexa Smith (Salem, N.H.) added goals for the Bison but a goal by freshman Emily Dolan (Merrick, N.Y.) put the nail in the coffin.

Sophomore Katherine Cotton (Kennebunk, Maine) tied her season-high with 12 saves but falls to 1-4 on the year. Senior Emily Castleman (Wilbraham, Mass.) took the win after stopping three shots in just over 33 minutes of work. Freshman Shannon McFadden (West Islip, N.Y.) made three saves in the final 26:57 to close the game for the Golden Bears.

The Bison travel to take on conference foe Salve Regina on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. The Golden Bears host U New England on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.