DUDLEY, Mass. – The Nichols College women's soccer team defeated Anna Maria 7-0 in non-conference action Friday afternoon at the Nichols Soccer Field.

Senior Ashley Cibotti (Norton, Mass.) potted a pair of goals while classmate Taylor Souza (New Bedford, Mass.) scored two and added an assist in route to the team's first win under first-year head coach Karen Gurnon.

The Bison rattled off three goals in the opening 12:48 of the game and never looked back from there – adding three more goals – including goals by senior Deandra Flynn (Pawtucket, R.I.) and sophomore Nicole Gidley (Dartmouth, Mass.) – before the end of the first half. Junior Alana Rodrigues (Southbridge, Mass.) potted the only goal of the second half to cap the scoring.

Junior Brooke Downey (Middleboro, Mass.) stopped the only shot that came her way to earn the shutout while sophomore Gabriella Eldredge (West Boylston, Mass.) made 12 saves in the loss.

Quotes
"I think we feel really great about the win. I think it is a great way to start the season and way to start a new legacy with Nichols soccer." – Gurnon on winning her first game as coach of the Bison
 
"We really started to see some great combinations of our players. We showed some great speed up top and we were able to get a lot of people in there that could contribute to that type of play." – Gurnon on the positives from the game
 
"Ashley has put in a lot of work in the preseason and coming into this season. Hanging over her head was the fact that she didn't score a goal last season – she called me up this summer and told me this was going to be her year, and I agreed." – Gurnon on the play of Cibotti
 
All-Time Series
The Bison have won the last five meetings with the AMCats and improve to 15-9-0 in the all-time series.
 
Next Games
Anna Maria (0-1) – Saturday, September 9 vs Emmanuel, TBA
Nichols (1-0) – Sunday, September 3 at Rivier, 6:00 p.m.