MILTON, Mass. – Despite a five-point outing from Hadley Houghton and a hat trick effort from Sam Ahaesy, the Nichols women's lacrosse team was upended by Curry in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play by a score of 9-8 on Wednesday afternoon at Walter M. Katz Field. With the decision, the Bison drop to 8-4 (0-4 CCC) on the season, while the Colonels improved to 4-8 (1-4 CCC).
 
Curry broke the scoring open with two goals in the middle portion of the first quarter, which was answered when Ahaesy found the back of the net with 3:47 to play, cutting the deficit to one. Houghton struck for her first of the evening just 1:33 into the second to knot the game up at 2-2.
 
The Colonels would respond just 29 seconds later with a goal from Chloe Chevrier as the first of a four-goal swing for the Colonels which spanned into the middle of the third quarter, capped off by Chevrier's third goal of the game with 9:42 to play in the third, making it 6-2 in favor of the home team.
 
Ahaesy would take matters into her own hands, scoring back-to-back goals just 2:35 apart to complete the hat trick and cut the Curry lead down to just two goals. Madison Robichaud then added to the scoring efforts to make it 6-5 with 4:10 left in the third.
 
Chevrier would pop the Colonels back up by two on her fourth goal of the evening, which was quickly answered by Makala Dube, who scored her sixth goal of the year just twenty seconds later. Sarah King added an unassisted strike in the waning moments of the third to knot things up at 7-all heading into the fourth and final period.
 
Ellie Hardman and Grayson Goolgasian would score for Curry, as the home team regained a two-goal advantage with 5:51 to play. Nichols turned to its leading goalscorer in Houghton to light the lamp with 4:16 to play, scoring her 49th of the campaign in cutting the deficit down to one.
 
As Nichols was threatening to tie the game late, a yellow card in the closing minute sealed the first conference win of the season for the Colonels.
 
Houghton finished with two goals and three assists in the setback, while Ahaesy led the goal-scoring with three strikes.
 
The Bison came out on top in the draw control battle with 12 to the Colonels' nine, with McKenzie Muir snagging a team-high four. When clearing out of the defensive end, Nichols was nearly perfect at 17 of 19 on the outing.
 
Keri Tremblay made eight saves in the loss for the Bison, who will look to right the ship in its next CCC matchup with Endicott on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. at Vendetti Field as the program will honor its members of the graduating class of 2023.