DUDLEY, Mass. (Feb. 12, 2010) – The Nichols College Bison fell to The University of Southern Maine 3-0 Friday Night at home. In the loss Christine Rigosi (Ridgewood, N.Y.) made 42 saves and held the Huskies scoreless in the first and third periods.
Southern Maine controlled most of the play during the first period firing off 19 shots to Nichols three shots. Neither team could get on the board however, as each goaltender was up to the task on all the shots. Nichols goaltender Christine Rigosi did not give the Huskies many second chances off of rebounds, holding onto the puck on almost all 19 shots. Southern Maine had two power-plays in the period including one of which that carried into the second period. They were led by first year forward Katie Davis (Woburn, Mass.) and Danielle Ward (Lansing, Mich.) who each had four shots.
The second period was more balanced shots wise as the Huskies had 12 while the Bison took nine shots, but the scoring was lopsided as the Huskies took a 3-0 lead into the third period. With 17:29 left in the period First year forward Colleen Callahan (Woburn, Mass) came from behind the net and lifted the puck backhanded above Rigosi’s left shoulder to put the score at 1-0. Jana Sacco (Niagra Falls, Ontario) and Alex Smith (Winthrop, Mass.) recorded assists on the play. The Huskies’ second goal came just over a minute later with 16:15 on the clock. Sophomore Kylie Blasen (Okemos, Mich.) picked up the puck from Danielle Ward as she skated right in front of the net and took a quick wrist shot that slipped pass Rigosi’s stick side. The Huskies built their lead to 3-0 when Callahan received a pass at the red line immediately off the face off from Sacco and took it in front of the net where she put it in five-hole for the goal.
As the game entered the third period the Huskies looked like they would keep the goals coming, but the Nichols defense, led by Courtney Carey (Belmont, Mass.) and Rigosi, were able to put out the fire. Both defenses held their opponents to zero goals in the third period. Southern Maine managed 14 shots in the period while Nichols managed eight.
The final shots in the game leaned heavily towards the Huskies side as they outshot the Bison 45-20. Each team’s penalty-kill was strong as Southern Maine was 0-3 on power-plays while Nichols was 0-5.
Picking up the win and shutout on 20 saves for the Huskies was sophomore Kimmy Flanders (Monson, Mass.), who improved her record to 5-4-0. Although Christine Rigosi stopped 42 shots she took the loss for the Bison and her record fell to 1-5-3.
Nichols plays tomorrow afternoon at 12:30 pm at home against Plymouth State. Southern Maine takes on Umass Boston tomorrow at 1:00 pm on the road.