Dudley, MA-  Lasell's women's lacrosse team fell in a close contest with Nichols College on Thursday afternoon, 11-9, at Vendetti Field.  Though the Lasers held an advantage the entire game, the Bison came out with the victory scoring the final two goals of the day to make their season opener a success.

Meredith Hessler (Middletown, RI) struck first, just under two minutes into the game, followed by a Caitlyn Murphy (Katonah, NY) goal just 13 seconds later.  The Bison answered with two tallies of their own over the course of ten minutes to even the scoring at 2-2, by 19:37. 

Nichols then pushed for three goals before the Lasers retaliated and answered with another mark by Hessler and two by Murphy to even the score at 6-all.  Tina Canavan (Stonington, Conn.) found the net twice unassisted and Chelsea Caren (Redding, Conn.) scored on a free position shot to take a 8-6 lead into the half.  Lasell's goalkeeper Kristin Coderre (Monson, Mass.) made 6 saves on Nichol's 19 shots in the first to give Lasell the advantage.

Upon return to the contest, Canavan struck again to go ahead 9-6 over the Bison at 27:22.  However, the remainder of the minutes belonged to Nichols who scored five unanswered goals to seal the defeat. 

The Bison held a slim 20-17 advantage in groundballs and a 29-23 lead in shots. Lasell claimed a 17-5 advantage in draw controls, including an 6-1 lead in the second half, with Canavan totaling nine and Caren adding five.

Murphy and Canavan both scored three times while Hessler, Caren, and Lexi Giatrelis (Mashpee, Mass.) each contributed 2 points in the loss. 

The Lasers return to home play on Monday, March 16th against Anna Maria with a 3:30 p.m. start time.