Salve Regina falls short to Nichols

MIDDLETOWN R.I. — Nichols defeated the Salve Regina women's lacrosse team in the 14^th meeting between the two teams at Gaudet Field Wednesday evening, 17-14. The victory for Nichols is its first over the Seahawks since 2002 and improves the Bison to 4-8 on the year and 2-3 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference while Salve Regina falls to 2-8 on the year and 0-4 in the CCC.

Freshman Abigail Tepper (Foxboro, Mass.) put Salve Regina on the scoreboard 1:28 into the game with an assist from junior Alyssa Corvi (Barrington, R.I.) to give the Seahawks a quick 1-0 lead. Senior Jennifer Jones (Basking Ridge, N.J.) and junior Grace Kelly (Auburn, N.Y.) went back-to-back to push the Seahawk lead to 3-0. Sophomore Erica Antonison (Albertson, N.Y.)  broke through for the Bison 17:51 into the opening frame to cut the Salve Regina lead to 3-1.

With 12:09 to go in the first half, Jones netted her team-leading 27^th goal of the season to extend the Seahawk lead to 7-2 before Nichols made its run to close out the half. Over the final 10 minutes, the Bison scored five unanswered goals, including a pair of tallies from sophomores Grace Murphy (Montclair, Va.) and Alyssa Bufis (Linden, N.J.) to close out the half tied, 7-7.

Murphy and Bufis each scored to open the second half and give Nichols its first lead of the game, 9-7. Sophomore Gina Tortorici (Deer Park, N.Y.) scored her first goal of the game to get the Seahawks within one, 9-8, but the Bison answered with a goal from Antonison and freshman Alexa Smith (Salem, N.H.) to take their largest lead of the game, 11-8. Jones and Woods responded with a goal each but this time Murphy joined Smith with a pair of goals to give Nichols a 13-10 lead with 22:33 left in regulation.

The two teams alternated goals over the next 17:37 to give Nichols a 15-12 lead with just 5:54 to play. Tortorici sent home Salve Regina's final goal of the game on a free position shot with 47 seconds left, but the clock was not on the Seahawks' side as Salve Regina fell 17-14 to the Bison.

Junior Josephine O'Reilly (Middletown, R.I.) made 11 saves in the net for Salve Regina while freshman AnneMarie Fana (Lawrence, Mass.) saved 10 shots in the win for Nichols. Jones and Bufis each had six goals for their teams in the game while Jones led all players with seven points.

Salve Regina returns to action when the Seahawks travel to Gordon for a CCC contest starting at noon on April 13. Nichols gets back on the turf when the Bison host Curry on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.