Golden Bears Bounce Back with 19-8 Victory over Nichols

Golden Bears improve to 13-0 all-time against Bison

DUDLEY, Mass. (April 4, 2019) – The Western New England University women's lacrosse team built a ten-goal first half lead and cruised to a 19-8 victory over Nichols College on Thursday night in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at Vendetti Field.

Top Performers
Western New England's balanced offensive showing featured seven players with multiple points.

Freshman Hannah Jarvis (Westfield, Mass.) led the way with a game-high five points (two goals, three assists) and junior Ariella Ruggiero (Valhalla, N.Y.) added four points (two goals, two assists).

Juniors Kaitlyn Hutter (Stamford, Conn.) and Eileen Ruby (New Fairfield, Conn.) were also key offensive contributors with three points each.

Junior Madison Lemire (Ellington, Conn.) and sophomore Danielle Skates (Berlin, Conn.) helped the Golden Bears control possession with five draw controls apiece.

For Nichols, senior Kirsten Sullivan (Arlington, Mass.) registered a hat trick and junior Danielle Kozloski (Pepperell, Mass.) chipped in with a pair of goals.

Game Review
Western New England opened the scoring just under a minute into the game when Hutter converted a free position opportunity, and the Golden Bears doubled their advantage at the 28:18 mark, as Hutter scored her second of the game on a feed from Ruby.

Trailing 5-0 following Ruby's unassisted tally a few minutes later, the home team finally broke through with 22:13 on the clock courtesy of Sullivan.

The Golden Bears responded with a 5-0 spurt that included two goals from freshman Liz Mazza (East Longmeadow, Mass.), however, to extend their lead to 10-1 with 17:41 left in the half.

Western New England outscored Nichols 3-2 the rest of the way and took a ten-goal lead (13-3) into the break.

Ruby and Ruggiero both found the back of the cage early in the second half as the Golden Bears' lead grew to 12 (15-3).

The Bison used a 4-0 run later in the half to cut their deficit to eight (16-8), but that would be as close as the home team got as Western New England ended the game with three unanswered goals over the final two minutes of regulation.

Notes
• Western New England outshot Nichols 51-19, including 33-8 in the first half.
• The win improves the Golden Bears to 13-0 all-time against the Bison.

Up Next
Both teams will be back in action on Saturday, as Western New England (5-5, 2-2 CCC) returns home to face Mount Holyoke, and Nichols (2-8, 0-4 CCC) travels to Salve Regina.