WORCESTER, Mass. – Worcester State was just 43 seconds away from collecting a victory, but Nichols College scored at 19:17 to tie the game and then found the game-winner less than a minute into overtime as the Bison defeated the Lancers 4-3 in women's ice hockey action on Tuesday evening at Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center.
With the win, Nichols improves to 12-7-1, while the Lancers fall to 10-6-2 and see their five-game win streak come to an end.
One streak still alive is that of Worcester State senior Clare Conway (Billerica, Mass.), who scored two goals on the night, extended her streak to seven straight games with a goal.
Rebecca Taylor (Branford, Conn.) scored the game-winner fifty-four seconds into the 3-on-3 extra period. Taylor took a feed from Megan Buxton (Pascoag, R.I.), who had scored the opening goal for the Bison.
Lauren Rokala (Saint Michael, Minn.) fired home the tying goal, her sixth of the year, with the Bison having pulled their goalie.
Conway gave the Lancers a lead 6:50 into the first period when she knocked home her 14th of the season on the powerplay.
Nichols also took advantage of a penalty, tying the game just over two minutes from the end of the period on a power play goal by Buxton. Buxton took a feed from Grace Wiggett (Essex Junction, Vt.) on a breakaway and scored her 10th goal of the season.
Before Buxton tied the game, the Bison had a chance to get on the scoreboard when Kaci Johnson (Wayzata, Minn.) was awarded a penalty shot, but Amber Lee (Nashua, N.H.) came up big for the Lancers to keep the hosts ahead by a goal.
Conway gave the Lancers back the lead with the only goal of the second period. Just over four minutes into the period, she was the recipient of a nifty feed from Ellen Cook (Becket, Mass.), who picked up her second assist of the night when Conway slotted past Nichols junior goalie Julia Carroll (Albert Bridge, Nova Scotia).
The Bison tied the game midway though the third on a powerplay goal by Grace Melanson (Simsbury, Conn.), but Cassidhe Wozniak (Turners Falls, Mass.) shoveled home a feed from Katie Puumala (Framingham, Mass.) to give the Lancers the lead again with six minutes to play.
Lee made 40 saves for the Lancers, the fifth time she has stopped 40 or more shots this year. Carroll stopped 27 shots for the Bison, who outshot Worcester 44-30, and had the only two shots of the extra period.
Worcester State scored on both of their power play chances, while Nichols went 2-5 with the extra skater.
The Lancers will return to ECHA action on Saturday night when they entertain Anna Maria at 8:20 at Worcester Ice Center.
Nichols heads back into the final four games of their Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) schedule, beginning Friday when they visit Curry for a 6:50 puck drop at Canton Ice House.