DUDLEY, Mass. (3/9/24) – A balanced offensive effort rewarded the Nichols College women's lacrosse team with a 12-5 non-conference victory over Simmons College Saturday afternoon at Vendetti Field.

Following the win, the Bison remain perfect and improve to 5-0 on the season while the Sharks drop to 2-4. It was the first ever meeting between the two programs.
Junior midfielder Hadley Houghton was a driving force on both sides of the ball, scoring seven goals on nine shots with nine ground balls, nine draw controls and eight caused turnovers. The Bison won the draws over the Sharks by a 14-9 margin, as well as a 23-20 edge in total shots.

Houghton started the afternoon with a goal 44 seconds into the first quarter, and later added her second of the day at 5:08 to give Nichols a 3-1 lead. The Bison also saw goals from Caitlin Welch and Paige Alexander, while the Sharks struck once for a 4-1 score after one. Each of the Nichols' four first quarter goals came unassisted

Welch added what would be the lone goal of the second quarter, sending the Bison into halftime with a 5-1 lead.

The Bison extended their lead to 7-1 following consecutive man-up goals by Houghton and Alexander to open the third. Simmons retaliated with the next pair of goals at 10:26 and 7:42 respectively, cutting the Bison lead down to 7-3. For good measure, Houghton scored her fourth of the game on a free-position attempt, once again man-up, to put the Bison up 8-3 heading into the final period.  

Three more unassisted goals from Houghton gave the Bison an insuperable 11-5 lead with 4:14 remaining in the game, before a sophomore Sarah King added the game-winner at 1:53 to cap off the 12-5 effort.

Houghton secured another program record following the game, moving into first all-time in career free-position goals scored (48)

The Bison continue their three-game homestand and welcome Vermont State University-Castleton (0-2) to Vendetti Field on Thursday, March 14^th for a 5:00 PM start.