WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (12/6/2025) – The Nichols College women's ice hockey team fell 5-1 on the road Saturday evening against Western New England, concluding a two-game weekend series with the Golden Bears.
Nichols drops to 2-8-0 (0-8-0 CNE) after the weekend, while Western New England moves to 7-4-0 (5-3-0 CNE).
Nichols started the game strong, but the momentum changed after a Nichols penalty at 6:17, sending WNE to the power play. The Golden Bears capitalized at 8:04 when Lilly Ainley buried a rebound to make it 1-0. WNE continued to press and added an unassisted tally from Katie Collins at 13:14 to make it 2-0. In the closing seconds of the period, the Golden Bears struck again. With just 0.2 seconds on the clock, Mabel Gerard finished on a feed from behind the net to extend the lead to 3-0. Nichols goaltender
Ivy Grant made 19 first-period saves for the Bison.
The Bison turned to
Taylor Daley in goal to start the second, and the sophomore responded well with eight saves in the frame. After a successful penalty kill, WNE pushed the lead to 4-0 at 9:58 on a goal from Zoe Galanoudis off a setup from Mischa Palmitesso. The Bison had a power-play opportunity shortly after but were held scoreless despite multiple attempts from Reeves,
Alexis Pacheco, and Devlin.
Nichols opened the third period battling to climb back, and got rewarded on the man advantage. At 7:24,
Ema Jaskova ripped home a power-play goal, her third of the season, off assists from Reeves and
Angalisa Caceda, cutting the deficit to 4-1. WNE responded at 12:27 as Mikayla Mrzywka collected a loose puck and scored to make it 5-1, sealing the final margin. Daley stopped 11 shots in the third, finishing with 19 saves over two periods.
Both goaltenders made 19 saves on the night, while the Bison won the faceoff battle 33 to 27, led by
Keira Goffe 13-10 and Jaskova 12-12.
Anna Lehan and
Rhea Bullens led the way with five shots blocked each.
Nichols returns home after the winter break to face Albertus Magnus College on January 2nd for a 4:40 PM puck drop at the Levy Rink.
