DUDLEY, Mass. – The Nichols College women's lacrosse team opened the second half on an 8-1 run to pull away for a 16-9 victory over the University of Maine-Farmington on Saturday afternoon in non-conference action in Dudley, Mass.
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The Bison improve to 4-7 overall with the win, while the Beavers drop to 3-8. Nichols is back in action on Tuesday afternoon when they travel to Maine Maritime for a 4:00 p.m. matchup.
In a pregame ceremony, the Bison honored their five member senior class in
Allison Bench,
Rachel Birmingham,
Mellissa LaFleur,
Olivia Normandin, and
Lindsay O'Connell for their contributions to Nichols College and its athletics program.
Junior
Kirsten Sullivan led the Bison attack with five goals and an assist, while O'Connell registered three goals, an assist, two groundballs, and two draw controls. Birmingham also had a multi-point day with two goals, an assist, and three groundballs, while sophomore
Miranda Smith found the back of the net three times in the win.
LaFleur had an all-around game with two assists, seven groundballs, three caused turnovers, and five draw controls. Sophomore
Danielle Kozloski and
Allison Bench also added goals, while
Olivia Normandin potted her first career tally in the victory.
Sophomore
Emily Eagan registered 14 saves and three groundballs in her fourth win of the season. Her counterpart, junior Heather Boland, recorded 16 saves in the setback.
Senior Carly Raymond led the Beavers with two goals and five assists to go with four groundballs and four draw controls. Senior Sierra Gilley added two goals and two assists, while sophomore Keilly Lynch netted a hat-trick with four groundballs, two caused turnovers, and eight draw controls.
The Bison held a slight 36-33 edge in shots in the game, while the Beavers held an advantage in both groundballs (26-22) and draw controls (19-8). Nichols forced 21 Maine-Farmington turnovers while committing 17 of its own in the victory.
Nichols began the game on a 5-1 run as Birmingham and Kozloski opened up the scoring before an O'Connell tally and back-to-back goals from Sullivan answered a Gilley goal for the Beavers. UMF answered with two-straight goals to pull to within 5-3, and O'Connell ended the run with her second goal of the day to double-up the Beavers at 6-3.
Lynch scored again for the Beavers with 8:56 remaining, and Sullivan responded with another goal followed by
Miranda Smith's first goal of the game to extend the Nichols lead back to 8-4 with 7:23 to play. The Beavers would score the final two goals of the period to trail only 8-6 headed into halftime.
Out of the break, Smith and Raymond exchanged goals before the Bison went on a 7-0 run over the next 17 minutes of game action to take a commanding 16-7 lead. The Beavers would score twice in the closing minutes to give the game its final score, 16-9.
All-Time Series
This was the first meeting between the two programs.