PLYMOUTH, N.H. - Stevenson women's ice hockey junior Anastassia Nelson made 19 saves and the Mustangs held a 36-21 advantage in shots, but Nichols took advantage of two first-period goals in the first 14 minutes en route to a 2-0 victory Friday in the first game of the Plymouth State Invitational.

Stevenson (0-1), who is now 1-2 in season openers, dropped the first of three meetings against the Bison this season. The two teams will meet again on November 28 and 29 at Reisterstown Sportsplex.

Grace Murphy led Nichols (1-0) with a goal and an assist to earn the second star of the game. She scored the game-winning goal just 7:19 into the contest when her shot went wide, but bounced back off the end board and into the goal off of Nelson.

Murphy then found Alyssa Bufis 6:28 later to push the Bison advantage to two.

Stevenson outshot Nichols 12-4 in the third period, but Tori Gianformaggio was up to the task as she finished with 36 saves, including 14 in the second period.

The Mustangs, who who were 20.7 percent on the power play a year ago, were 0-for-8 on Friday despite totaling 13 shots. The team was 5-for-5 on the penalty kill after an 82.7 percentage last season.

Stevenson also won 28-of-39 faceoffs with junior Megan Alexander winning 10-of-15. Junior Erin McLoughlin won 8-of-10 while freshman Chelsea Blackburn was 8-for-11.

The Mustangs return to action on Saturday against host Plymouth State beginning at 3:00 p.m.