DUDLEY, Mass. (6/9/2026) – In their third season as a program in 2025-26, the Nichols women's golf program officially introduced itself to the Conference of New England, and made tremendous strides with several notable performances.
The Bison, under first-year head coach
Don Lemieux, finished the combined fall and spring campaigns with two runner-up finishes, a tournament victory, and a team win in match play.
Nichols opened the fall at the Hartford Hawks Women's Invitational at Keney Park Golf Course, where they finished sixth out of nine with a 365 (+85) through one round before weather canceled the second day of the tournament. The following week, at the Westfield State Invitational, Nichols claimed their first runner-up outing of the year with a 72-over 356, highlighted by top-10 individual finished from junior
Felicia Zander and senior
Kaitlin Baca. Zander landed in a two-way tie for runner-up with an 80 (+9) on the day, while Baca finished tied for sixth with a career-low 86 (+15).
After soundly besting Westfield State in match play, 248-426 on October 7
th, the Bison returned to Keney Park for the inaugural CNE Women's Golf Championship. Nichols posted a 750 (+190) for third place through two rounds, which landed them 39 strokes behind runner-up University of Hartford (+151) and conference champion Suffolk (+135), and were led another pair of top-10 finishes between Zander, who took seventh at 36-over 176, and sophomore
Isabella Fleury claimed eighth just one stroke back of Zander at 37-over 177 (89-88). Nichols maintained its momentum a week later at the NEIGA Women's Championship, this time placing third out of 10 competing teams with a program record 730 (+154) score through the two rounds. Fleury, who placed 7
th individually, also tied the record for single-round scoring (80), previously set by Zander at the earlier Westfield State Invitational, and set a new record for overall score through two rounds (166).
Fast forwarding to the spring, Nichols only appeared in two tournaments, starting with their second runner-up performance at the Hartford Wintonbury Hills Invitational. To wrap up the year, Nichols hosted its annual Bison Spring Invitational at Crestview Country Club in Agawam, Massachusetts, where they claimed the win with an 89-stroke lead over second-place finisher Gordon College, and third-place Worcester State University (534). As a highlight, delivered a leading performance with an 83 (+11) to earn individual medalist honors, scoring two birdies throughout.
SEASON LEADERS
Single-Round Scoring (Stroke): Isabella Fleury,
Felicia Zander (80)
Two-Round Scoring (Stroke): Isabella Fleury (166)
Season Average (Stroke): Isabella Fleury (86.1)
SEASON AWARDS
CNE Rookie of the Week (9/15): Felicia Zander
CNE Scholar Athlete of the Year: Kaitlin Baca
CNE Elite 21 Award: Isabella Fleury
CNE All-Conference Second Team: Isabella Fleury
CNE All-Conference Second Team: Felicia Zander
CNE Community Service Team: Kaitlin Baca
