DUDLEY, Mass. (Feb. 13, 2010) – Mandy Manopla (West Palm Beach, Fla.) recorded a hat trick in The Nichols College Bison women’s hockey 8-1 victory over the Plymouth State Panthers Saturday afternoon at home. The conference win improves the Bison to 3-14-3 and 3-10-2 in the conference. The loss drops the Panthers to 0-21-0 and 0-16-0 in the conference.
Both teams had plenty of chances in the first period as the two teams combined for a total of 32 shots, 17 for Plymouth and 15 for Nichols. Nichols was able to capitalize on two shots while the Panthers could not find the back of the net. The Bison’s first goal came short-handed with 17:18 left in the period. 13 seconds into their penalty-kill, Nichols’ Ashley O’Donnell (North Scituate, R.I.) threw a pass from her own zone up the middle to SueEllen Nault (Goffstown, N.H.) for a break-away in which she snapped the puck top shelf pass glove side to open up the scoring. Then with 6:49 remaining Nichols made the score 2-0 when first year forward Devin Leary (Dorchester, Mass.) stole the puck from Plymouth right off a face-off in Plymouth’s zone and took a wrap around shot in which she found the opposite side of the net.
Nichols put the game out of reach in the second period by scoring four goals to lengthen their lead to 6-0 over the Panthers. All four goals came within a five minute period from 5:10 left to 1:38 left in the period. Mandy Manopla started the scoring and recorded two goals during the period, including one power-play goal for the Bison’s third goal of the period. Sophomore forward Hannah Tardif (Laconia, N.H.) recorded the second goal of the period after recording the assist on the first goal. Nault put in her second goal, this time on a power-play, with 1:38 left. The Bison outshot the Panthers 17-7 in the second period as each team received multiple penalties in the period.
The third period picked up right where it left off with more scoring. Nichols scored two goals in the first 4:07 of the period while Plymouth notched their first goal of the game with 16:28 remaining. Candice Ellis (Gloucester, Mass.) put in the first goal 2:25 into the period with the assist coming from Cheryl Winter (Hollister, Calif.). Abby Van Wormer (Marstons Mills, Mass.) took a shot from behind the net that it the goaltender and went in for the Panthers only goal of the game. Mandy Manopla finished off her hat trick to end the scoring in the game with 15:53 left in the period. With the three goals, Manopla became the first Bison in program history to record a hat trick.
The Bison outshot the Panthers 46-37 in the game. The Bison were 3-8 on power-plays while the Panthers were 0-5. Melanie Spears (Woburn, Mass.) made 36 saves to pick up her second win of the season. Nicole Provencher (Guilford, Conn.) made 38 saves, but picked up the loss.
The Bison play next at home against Norwich on February 19th at 7:30 pm. Plymouth also plays at home on the 19th against Holy Cross at 6:00 pm.
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