FITCHBURG, Mass. – The Nichols College women's lacrosse team fell 17-8 to Fitchburg State in non-conference action Tuesday evening at Elliot Field.
 
Freshman Miranda Smith (Methuen, Mass.) potted a team-high three goals and senior Brooke Marion (South Hadley, Mass.) scored two of her own as the Bison drop their first game of the season.
 
Fitchburg outshot the Bison 36-20 for the game – including 22-9 over the final half of play.
 
Seniors Ali Laferriere (Tyngsboro, Mass.) and Andrea Comeau (Watertown, Mass.) led the Falcons with six and five goals, respectively, while classmate Kayla Panek (Belchertown, Mass.) set up her teammates all night long, picking up four assists and a pair of goals. Junior Carrie Long (Foxboro, Mass.) also scored three goals. 
 
The Bison trailed 5-2 at the half before the Falcons exploded for 12 goals in the second half including the final five goals of the game.
 
Senior Olivia Morawski (Fairfield, Conn.), junior Melissa LaFleur (Chicopee, Mass.), and sophomore Kirsten Sullivan (Arlington, Mass.) each scored goals for the Bison while junior captain Lindsay O'Connell (Danvers, Mass.) and freshman Madison Bakos (Rocky Hill, Conn.) each had assists in the game.
 
Marion had a team-high four shots on goal and the Falcons were paced by Laferriere – who had a game-high 13 shots.
 
Freshman Emily Eagan (Hingham, Mass.) made 19 saves in the loss while sophomore Marguerite Belcher (Quincy, Mass.) had 12 stops in the win.
 
All-Time Series
This marked the first match between the Bison and Falcons since the 2012 season in which the Bison won that year but Fitchburg now leads the all-time series at 5-1.
 
Next Games
Nichols (1-1) – Thursday, March 9 vs Framingham State, 7:00 p.m.
Fitchburg St. (1-0) – Thursday, March 9 vs Johnson & Wales (RI), 4:00 p.m.