DUDLEY, Mass. (3/27/24) - Yet another record was surpassed as the Nichols College women's Lacrosse team cruised to a 16-6 victory in their Commonwealth Coast Conference opener at home over Gordon College on Wednesday afternoon at Vendetti Field.
With the win, the Bison continue to build on their program-long win streak and improve to 10-0 on the season, while the Fighting Scots fall to 2-7. The win also marks the third consecutive season the Bison have reached the ten-win mark.
Junior midfielder Hadley Houghton once again shined for the Bison with a ten-point performance that included eight goals and two assists. With her third goal of the night, she set the single-season record for individual goals (66), passing her previous record of 60 from the 2022-23 campaign, while also finishing the game as the new single-season points leader (82). Assisting in the effort were sophomores Makala Dube and Emma Patton who combined for four goals, scoring two apiece. First-year attacker Gabriella Mandirola contributed three points, converting on both of her shot attempts and playing the role of maestro with one assist. Junior midfielder McKenzie Muir stuffed the stat sheet with a goal of her own, while forcing four turnovers and grabbing eight draw controls.
The goals came early and often as the Bison found themselves up 3-0 three minutes into the contest, utilizing two goals from Houghton and one from Patton. The Fighting Scots responded with just under 10 minutes left to bring the score to 3-1, before Houghton grabbed another pair of goals before the end of the first frame. With a 5-1 lead in hand, the Bison continued their good form in the second quarter by outscoring the Scots 4-1 on goals from three different scorers, closing the half with a 9-2 lead.
Houghton found the back of the net twice in the opening minutes of the third before the Bison scoring run was interrupted by a Scots goal at 7:35, making it an 11-3 ball game. Less than 40 seconds later, Dube answered to restore the ten-goal lead for the Bison, before back-to-back goals from Muir and Patton boosted the Bison lead to 14-3 at the end of the quarter. The Fighting Scots opened the fourth frame scoring, but Nichols continued to apply pressure as junior attacker Ali Vozzo recorded her first point of the season with an assist, only to also add her first goal of the campaign a few minutes later to push the lead to a dozen at 16-4. The Fighting Scots scored the final two goals of the game, but Nichols took the victory, 16-6.
Sophomore goalkeeper Briar Slattery rounded out her start with two saves and improved her record to 9-0 on the season.
The Bison will now kick off a two-game road trip with a visit to Endicott College (4-5, 1-0 CCC) on Saturday, March 30th. The opening draw is slated for 3:00 PM at Hempstead Stadium.
