DUDLEY, Mass. (Oct. 21) – The Nichols College women’s soccer team won its fourth-straight game Wednesday afternoon with a 3-2 victory over visiting Eastern Nazarene College in a The Commonwealth Coast Conference matchup. Sophomore midfielder Kaitlyn DiBuono (Auburn, Mass.) recorded a pair of assists to break the program’s single-season assists record, bringing her season total to 13.
Nichols improves to 8-8 overall and 5-6 in TCCC games, while the Lions dip to 5-12 overall and 3-8 in TCCC action.
After a scoreless opening half, the Lions’ Brenna Mereness put Eastern Nazarene on the board in the 53rd minute with an unassisted goal. The senior took advantage of a Bison defender’s miscue in the box and went in undefended against Nichols keeper Nicole Johnson (Westhampton, Mass.) before placing the ball out of Johnson’s reach on her left.
Nichols scored a pair of goals less than three minutes apart to take a 2-1 lead. Katelyn Delaney (Weymouth, Mass.) crossed the ball to leading scorer Samantha Abro (Northborough, Mass.) in the 61st minute for Abro’s league-leading 20th goal of the year and then DiBuono served up her record-breaking assist to first year Jennifer Braga (Rehoboth, Mass.) at the netfront in the 64th minute for Braga’s first career tally.
Morgan Goodney headed in the equalizer of a lofty corner from Kara Webber 10 minutes later, but the DiBuono crossed the ball to Holly Ventura (Hudson, Mass.) in the 79th minute to put the Bison back ahead.
Johnson made eight saves for the Bison, while Britney Hislop stopped seven shots for the Lions.
Eastern Nazarene held a 20-14 shot advantage, but both teams were even in shots on goal with 10 apiece.
Nichols honored its lone senior, midfielder Lindsey Barbo (Natick, Mass.) prior to the game.
The Bison close out their home schedule with a noon TCCC game against University of New England Saturday on Vendetti Field. Eastern Nazarene travels to Salve Regina for a 1 p.m. conference game on Saturday.
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