CASTLETON, Vt. (3/10/2025) – The Nichols women's lacrosse kept its season-opening win streak alive on Monday afternoon, soundly defeating host VTSU Castleton, 16-10 in non-conference play at Dave Wolk Stadium.

The Bison improve to 3-0 on the season, while the Spartans drop to 1-4 overall.

Hadley Houghton delivered another strong performance for the Bison, notching six points on five goals and one assist, alongside nine draw controls and two caused turnovers. Emma Patton and Kristen Ruby each scored hat tricks in the effort, with Patton joining McKenzie Muir with five draw controls.

Briar Slattery (3-0) logged 53:35 in net, and finished with 11 saves and four ground balls. Kaleigh Seal also made an appearance, logging two stops in the final 6:25 of play.

Sienna Reeves netted the opening goal of a high-scoring first quarter less than 90 seconds in, with Kristen Ruby adding her respective sixth of the season at 11:29 to make it 2-0 Bison. Castleton would chime back exactly two minutes later to slash the lead in half, but the scoring would continue down the stretch as Nichols continued on to own a 6-4 lead after one, with Houghton pouring in two of her five goals in that stretch.

The Bison continued to pile on goals with a 3-0 run to start the second quarter, closing with an unassisted man-up strike by Patton for her third goal of the game, and second on the advantage. Despite ending Nichols' streak with a goal in the closing minute of the second, the Spartans still faced a lofty four-goal deficit at halftime, with Nichols maintaining a 9-5 edge.

The Nichols offense again took center stage in the third quarter, as the Bison outscored the Spartans by a 5-2 clip to double-up their lead to 14-7. After Castleton potted the first goal, an unassisted score from Houghton ignited a 4-0 run by the Bison, with freshman Macy Abrams closing the run with her first collegiate goal to make it 13-6 Bison. Nichols then ended up yielding a goal to the Spartans with 1:59 left, but Kristen Ruby quickly restored the seven-goal advantage with a man-up goal in the final minute.

In a 2-2 final frame, freshman Kasey Litwin was the last on the scoresheet for Nichols, netting her own collegiate first at the 3:26 mark to cap off the 16-10 win.

The Bison will return to action with a mid-week clash at Clark University (2-2) this upcoming Wednesday, March 12^th at 3:00 PM.