BOSTON, Mass. (3/25/24) – A plenitude of program records fell as the Nichols College women's lacrosse team earned its ninth consecutive victory over Emerson College, 24-17 in a non-conference matchup at Rotch Field on Saturday evening.
The win also improves the Bison to a 9-0 overall record on the season, while the Lions drop to 3-3 with the loss. With the win, head coach William Mraz picked up his 30th win at the helm, which continued to build upon his milestone as the winningest coach in program history.
Junior midfielder Hadley Houghton was stellar for the Bison with a 14-goal performance, setting the program's all-time single-game record for individual goals as well as single-game individual points record. Houghton also collected 12 draw controls, while junior McKenzie Muir forced a team-high five caused turnovers, moving herself into first all-time in the category with 90. The sophomore tandem of Caitlin Welch and Emma Patton combined for six goals with each netting a hat trick, as the Bison outshot the Lions 49-19 and scored a season-best six free-position goals as a squad.
Nichols recovered from an early 3-0 deficit by rattling off five unanswered goals, with four from Houghton and one from Patton across a three-minute span to make it a 5-3 score. Despite the Lions ending the Bison run with a goal to pull back within one at 5-4, Nichols would conjure up another by scoring the next nine to follow, including another quintet of goals from Houghton. During the same run, first-year attacker Gabriella Mandirola and sophomore midfielder Makala Dube each found the back of the net, while junior attacker Paige Alexander capped it off with her sixth goal of the year to increase the lead to a commanding 14-4 score with 12:47 remaining in the second quarter.
In the second, the Lions countered with a pair of quick goals to shrink Nichols' lead down to 14-6 at the ten-minute mark in the quarter. Nonetheless, the Bison put the remaining time to good use, outscoring the Lions 4-3 to double-up their lead to 18-9 at the halftime break.
Nichols continued to pour on the goals in the third quarter as they outscored the Lions 5-3, including strikes from Patton and Welch to complete their hat trick performances. In the final frame, Emerson finished strong by scoring five of the final six goals but failed to narrow the deficit any further as Nichols held on for the 24-17 win, expanding their program-best winning streak to nine.
Up next, Nichols will host Gordon College (2-6) in both their Commonwealth Coast Conference opener and Cancer Awareness Game on Wednesday, March 27th at 4:00 PM from Vendetti Field.
