NICHOLS HANGS ON, WIN FOURTH MMAA TITLE IN FIVE YEARS

The Nichols Lady Vikings are champions of the Monsignor Martin Athletic Association for the fourth time in the last five years after taking down the Nardin Gators 10-6 at the Demske Sports Complex at Canisius University on Wednesday evening.

Only an upset loss to St. Mary’s a year ago has denied Nichols of five titles in a row, and coach Beth Stone said her players wanted to avenge last year’s result in 2025.

“We stumbled a bit last year, but the kids really wanted to come back this year and do a good job,” Stone said. “It was a very competitive and fun win. We really stepped up today and played a good game, and I’m proud of our kids for keeping their cool and ultimately playing the way we wanted to play.”

On the flip side, Nardin – whose roster boasts a freshman-heavy flavor – will attempt to use the loss as a stepping stone for future seasons.

“I thought we were evenly matched for a long time and our girls really stepped it up today – especially our goalie, Ollivia Bousquet,” Gators coach Amy Fuchs said. “The amount of saves that she had was unreal and I was just really impressed with my team's play.

“We have a lot of development to do, but we're excited for the future.”

Nardin got off to a quick start on goals by Sienna Hoffman and Isabella Banas, but Nichols soon began to assert their dominance. Scores by Cecelia Stewart, Ilsa Neumann, Abby Locke, Bella Casullo, Gwyn Sheline and a pair of tallies by Clare Gordon (the last three coming in a 17-second span) seemingly gave the Lady Vikings a stranglehold on the scoreboard early in the third quarter.

A timeout called by the Gators allowed them to gather themselves and begin a comeback of their own. With Victoria Earle finding the back of the net and three more goals by Banas (giving her four for the contest), that explosion of offense helped Nardin cut the deficit down to one with 9:20 to go in the fourth stanza of play.

“That resiliency and toughness we have comes from Bella and Vic,” Fuchs said. “They’re our two seniors and they're just amazing young women who are super smart and very good lacrosse players. They're also very good motivators, and they lead the team in that way.

“Bella, in particular, really helped us regain momentum with her four goals. She's super-talented and aggressive, and when she sees a lane she knows how to take it.”

It was now Nichols’ turn to call a timeout for Stone to deliver a message to her players.

“It was mostly to get us a break for a couple of minutes and take a deep breath, relax and not get so uptight about what was going on out there,” Stone said. “We just said, ‘Settle down. It's our game, so just take care of the ball and we’ll be fine.’”

The message resonated. A little more than a minute later, the Lady Vikings responded when Sheline lit the lamp to increase the lead to two. She and Gordon then closed out the game by each completing a hat trick later on to seal the championship for Nichols.

“(Gordon and Sheline) are our top two scorers and they have done a great job for us all year long,” Stone said. “Nardin’s goalie played exceptional today and challenged us, which was great. And they both settled down and did what they needed to do by putting the ball in the net.”

Nichols will play against St. John the Baptist from Long Island on Monday to determine a state champion.

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Photo Gallery Shawn Turri for WNYAthletics