Western New England University

DUDLEY, Mass. (October 17, 2026) – The Western New England field hockey team came away with 43 shots in Saturday's Conference of New England game at Nichols College, allowing just two shots to the Bison, picking up goals from Mikayla Mrzywka, Jenna Nigro, and Kayla Surprenant in a 3-0 victory. 

Records:

• Western New England: 9-5, 5-1 CNE
• Nichols College: 4-10, 2-4 CNE

How it Happened:
First Quarter:

• The Golden Bears took over the contest right from the start, earning a penalty corner just 28 seconds into the contest and never looked back. Maddie Ripley, Tessa Ebreo and Abigail Petrini had early chances on the Bison, but Alyse Mutti came up big to keep the Golden Bears without a goal. 
• Western New England peppered the Nichols defense and goalkeeper with an astounding 13 shots in the opening 15 minutes of play, but just five were on target. 
• The Golden Bears scored their first goal of the game with 36 seconds remaining in the quarter when Mikayla Mrzywka tallied on her third shot of the game, scoring her team-leading 18^th goal of the season, giving the Blue and Gold the opening 1-0 lead. 

Second Quarter:

• More dominance from the WNE offense saw the Golden Bears control much of the quarter. Nichols did open the quarter with its first shot, coming from Asya Osei-Opoku, who put the ball wide of the cage. 
• Western New England took five total shots in the second quarter, putting three on goal, but none found the back of the net, as the Golden Bears held the one goal advantage heading into halftime. 

Third Quarter:

• Mrzywka hit the post just 32 seconds into the third quarter as Western New England had the chance to double its lead right away. Nichols came back down the field and attempted its first shot on goal of the game when Emma Bianculli saw the ball hit the pads of Alex Tardugno, giving the Bison their first shot on goal in the game, but Tardugno was up to the task. 
• From there, WNE controlled much of the offense in the quarter, outshooting Nichols 7-1. WNE put five shots on goal, though all saved by NC's Fallyn Belisle, keeping the Golden Bears in front by just a goal, leading 1-0 after 45 minutes of play. 

Fourth Quarter:

• The Golden Bears had three opportunities on penalty corners in the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter, as Tania Evans, Analise Trani, and Mikayla Mrzywka all had opportunities on goal, but were snakebitten by the Nichols goalkeeper. 
• Western New England was rewarded with a goal after multiple chances with under six minutes to play in the game when Jenna Nigro scored on a set play on assists from Mrzywka and Ebreo, giving the Golden Bears a big goal in the game, doubling their lead to 2-0. 
• In the dying seconds of the contest, a scrum in front saw Kayla Surprenant take a shot on goal that was initially saved by a Nichols defender, but a rebound chance from Suprenant was smashed into the back of the net to give the WNE junior her first tally of the season with just four seconds remaining in the game, giving the Golden Bears a 3-0 lead, a lead they would hold to win the contest by. 

Inside the Lines:

• The WNE offense dominated the contest, picking up 43 total shots, including 18 in the fourth quarter, outshooting the Bison 43-2 and 24-1 on goal. 
• Mikayla Mrzywka, Jenna Nigro, and Kayla Surprenant all found the back of the net for the Golden Bears. 
• Alex Tardugno made one save, the only shot on goal by the Bison on the night. 
• WNE improves to 23-9 all-time over Nichols and have won seven straight games, giving up just two goals total over that span. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• A three-game week is ahead for the Blue and Gold, seeing WNE travel to Wesleyan University on Tuesday, October 20 and Westfield State University on Thursday, October 22 before a huge Conference of New England game on Saturday, October 24 on home turf against the University of New England at 4:30 PM.