DUDLEY, Mass. (2/24/2025) – After a one-year hiatus, the sixth-seeded Nichols College field hockey team will make its return to the Conference of New England postseason, and will face No. 3 host University of New England in the First Round on Saturday.
The game will be held at Blue Bolt Field, with a start time of 12:00 PM.
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CNE Tournament Central
How They Got Here: The Bison, under the guidance of first-year head coach Kelsey Ramsay, finished out their regular season with a 6-13 overall record, and a 2-5 mark in conference play. For Nichols, it all came down to their final conference contest against Gordon College, where the Bison blanked the Fighting Scots 3-0 to lock up the final seed in the upcoming tournament, which will be their 16
th conference postseason appearance all-time, and second in the past three seasons. Nichols' other victories from the season came against Anna Maria (5-0), Eastern Connecticut (2-1, OT), conference opponent University of Hartford (2-0), Elms College (9-0) and UMass Dartmouth (3-2).
The third-seeded Nor'easters finished their respective regular season at 11-8 (5-2 CNE).
Season Series: In their lone meeting this season, the Nor'easters came away with the home victory against the Bison by a final score of 7-1, with graduate student
Merle Steinau scoring the solo goal for Nichols.
Who to Watch:
Leading the Bison into Saturday's first round tilt is freshman standout
Lily Gibson, who presently leads the team in both goals (6) and total points (17), having appeared in all 19 games in her first collegiate season. The Bison attack continues with sophomore
Emma Bianculli and junior
Sofia Calabro, who have each logged 14 points apiece this season (5G, 4A), with both also scoring two game winners.
On the defensive side of the ball, graduate student
Merle Steinau stands out with eight defensive saves on the campaign, while also contributing offensively with 11 points on three goals and five assists. Junior
Katherine Hearn has also played a role defensively this season, logging three defensive saves of her own.
In the cage, freshman goalkeeper
Jessa Altemose enters Saturday's tilt with a 5-9 overall record, a 3.23 goals against average, a .689 save percentage and a pair of shutouts.
The winner of Saturday's first-round matchup will advance to the CNE Semifinal round on Wednesday, November 5
th against the winner of No. 5 Johnson & Wales University (8-8, 3-4 CNE) at No. 4 Western New England (11-8, 4-3 CNE).
