DUDLEY, Mass. – The Nichols College women's soccer team fell 2-1 to Western New England in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action Tuesday afternoon at the Nichols Soccer Field.
 
The Bison dropped the game despite holding the edge in shots 10-9 – thought the Golden Bears held the lead in shots on goal, 7-5.
 
WNE got on the board first at 19:28 when junior Christina Delude (Belchertown, Mass.) passed it over to senior Brooke Labrie (Granby, Mass.) who was able to chip the ball over sophomore goaltender Brooke Downey (Middleboro, Mass.) for her fourth goal of the season.
 
A little over eight minutes later, the Golden Bears chipped the defense of the Bison and senior Samantha Emmert (Hyde Park, N.Y.) beat the keeper to the left side to score her team-leading fifth goal of the year. Junior Marielle Caron (East Longmeadow, Mass.) was credited with the assist on the goal.
 
Nichols had an opportunity to cut the deficit in half at 40:13 when junior Danielle Barry (Springfield, Mass.) made her way through the Golden Bear defense and fired a shot that hit off the top corner of the post.
 
The Bison were able to get on the board at 70:25 when senior Brooke Maher (North Attleboro, Mass.) passed it up to junior Taylor Souza (New Bedford, Mass.) who then took the ball up the side and beat freshman goaltender Alexandra Lemekha (Stamford, Conn.) for her conference-leading 10th goal.
 
Barry provided a game-high three shots while Souza chipped in with two to pace the Bison. Freshman Julia Sarnelli (Island Park, N.Y.) also had a game-high three shots to pace WNE.
 
Downey took the loss after making five saves. Sophomore Marissa Veilleux (Newington, Conn.) started the game for the Golden Bears and made a pair of saves through the first half while Lemekha stopped two shots to finish the game.
 
All-Time Series
The Bison scored their first goal against the Golden Bears since 2010 and have now dropped the last eight matches with WNE. The Golden Bears lead the all-time series at 13-5-0.
 
Quotes
"The girls went out there and fought hard this entire match. Second half we dictated most of the game and we were able to put one away. Once again the end result didn't go our way but that's been the story of our season, unfortunately. This year has been a building year for us and I couldn't be happier with how the transition went. Of course we want to see results but once you take care of all of the other areas that need focus, the results will come. This was a very positive start for this growing team. My motto has always been to 'beat your best' so for us it's about being better than we were last year. So next year we will look to be better than we were this year. I'm excited for the future and I think we've set a different standard for ourselves, this team and this program. It will only go up from here, and I can't wait." – Nichols first-year head coach Sonia Basma
 
Next Games
Nichols (4-12-1, 1-8-0 CCC) – Season comes to an end
Western New England (6-10-3, 3-5-1 CCC) – CCC Tournament