SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Nichols College senior Lindsay O'Connell scored her 100th career goal, but the women's lacrosse team suffered a 16-11 setback on the road at Western New England University on Tuesday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play in Springfield, Mass.
 
O'Connell becomes the seventh player in program history to reach the 100-goal plateau, and she is only seven goals from moving into sixth place on the all-time goals scoring list by passing Erica Antonison '15.
 
The senior finished the day with two goals and an assist to go with five groundballs, three draw controls and three caused turnovers. Senior Mellissa LaFleur had an all-around game with two goals, two assists, four groundballs, nine draw controls and three caused turnovers, while junior Kirsten Sullivan recorded a hat-trick for the Bison. Sophomore Miranda Smith also had a multi-point day with two goals, with sophomore Danielle Kozloski and junior McKayla Pratte rounding out the goal scorers for Nichols.
 
Defensively, senior Rachel Birmingham caused three turnovers, while junior Brooke Downey grabbed a pair of groundballs and caused one turnover of her own. Sophomore Emily Eagan made 17 saves and scooped up nine groundballs for the Bison in the setback.
 
Western New England was led by nine goals and an assist from junior Kristen Breen. Four other players posted multi-point days in the win, including a goal and an assist apiece from freshman Alex Sacco and junior Rebecca Allen. Freshman Kaitlyn Marchant earned the win, making six saves while allowing seven goals in a half of play.
 
The Bison opened the game scoring the first three goals as tallies from Smith, Sullivan, and Kozloski staked the Bison to a 3-0 advantage with 25:43 remaining in the half. Kristen Breen ended the run with a score for the Golden Bears, and LaFleur put the Bison back in front, 4-1, with her 13th goal of the season and 23:10 to play in the period.
 
Western New England answered with seven-straight goals over the next 11-plus minutes to take an 8-4 lead with 11:39 to play. Breen scored three times in the run for the Golden Bears, while four other WNE players also found the back of the net.
 
Back-to-back goals from O'Connell and Pratte cut the deficit to 8-6, and the two teams traded goals as Sullivan's second of the game kept the Bison within 9-7. The Golden Bears would get one more goal from Breen before the end of the period to take a 10-7 lead into the break.
 
The two teams traded goals to open the second half until two-straight goals from LaFleur and Smith pulled the Bison to a 13-11 deficit with 10:52 remaining in the game. That would be as close as Nichols would get, unfortunately, as the Golden Bears scored the final three goals of the contest to pull away for the 16-11 victory.
 
Western New England held a 37-28 advantage in shots in the game, while also holding a 32-27 edge in groundballs. Both teams struggled with turnovers as the Bison turned it over 30 times, while the home team had 24 missteps.
 
The Bison fall to 2-7 overall and 0-5 in the CCC, while the Golden Bears improve to 3-9 and 3-2 in league games. Nichols returns to action Thursday night when they step out of league action to travel to Elms College for a 7:00 p.m. matchup.
 
All-Time Series
The two teams have met 13 times in program history and Western New England is 13-0 in the series.