DUDLEY, Mass. (3/15/24) - The Nichols College women's lacrosse team rolled to a 15-4 victory at home over Vermont State University-Castleton on Thursday afternoon at Vendetti Field.

The Bison improve to a perfect 6-0 record on the season while the Spartans fall to 0-4 overall. For Nichols, it is their second consecutive season with a 6-0 start.

Nichols scored the first six goals of the game as junior Hadley Houghton struck twice in a minute span to open the afternoon, with both goals unassisted. Then, the Bison put two more unassisted goals on the board as Caitlin Welch fired home her 12^th of the season just 21 seconds later to make it a 3-0 game, followed by a goal from fellow sophomore Emma Patton at 11:52. To close out the first quarter, sophomore Makayla Dube scored at the 8:17 mark on a feed from Houghton, followed by a final unassisted goal from junior Kristen Ruby. After 15 minutes of play, the Bison led the Spartans 6-1.

While the Nichols defense held Castleton scoreless through the second quarter, the offense put the game well out of reach with another hexad of goals. Of the six goals, two belonged to Dube for her fourth and fifth of the season, completing her hat trick performance. By halftime, the Bison had blown the doors open with a 12-1 lead over the Spartans.

Things calmed down in the second half, but Nichols continued to find ways to score as Ruby added her second goal of the game on a man-up opportunity, with the assist going to freshman Gabriella Mandirola. Two more unassisted goals went on the board before the end of the quarter, courtesy of Welch and Sarah King, to make it 15-1 entering the fourth.

Castleton struck three times in the final frame, but to little avail as the Bison took the win, 15-4.

Nichols saw another strong outing from sophomore Briar Slattery (5-0), who stopped three-of-four shots faced through 45 minutes of action to backstop the win. Senior Keri Tremblay saw some relief action in the final quarter, making two saves on five shots.

Nichols will return to action at Vendetti Field on Saturday afternoon for a 5:00 PM matchup with Massachusetts Maritime Academy (2-3, 0-2 LEC).