Courtesy Norwich Sports Information
NORTHFIELD –– The Norwich University women’s hockey team won its eighth straight game with a 5-0 shutout victory over Castleton University on Wednesday night at Kreitzberg Arena in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) action.
Sophomore Carley Sedlar (Howell, Mich.) and freshman Ann-Frederique Guay (St. Lambert-de-Lauzon, Quebec) tallied a goal and an assist, while Ingrid Holstad-Berge (Stavanger, Norway) and Samantha Benoit (Bow, N.H.) each had two assists to lead the Cadets to victory in a battle of the top two teams in the league standings.
Sophomore goalie Kate Winstanley (Lansdale, Pa.) made 10 saves, including stoning Samantha Lawler on a breakaway late in the third period with a terrific glove save to keep the Spartans off the board. Norwich extended its unbeaten streak in NEHC games to 38 straight games and has outscored its opponents 38-1 over its last six games.
Norwich (8-1-0, 5-0-0 NEHC) took a 1-0 lead at the 7:03 mark of the first period with senior Maddi Blauth (Pennington, N.J.) tipping a shot past Alexis Kalm off an initial shot from Benoit at the point. Amanda Conway (Methuen, Mass.) fed the puck from the side of the goal back to Benoit at the top of the left faceoff circle to pick up the second assist.
Sedlar stretched the lead to 2-0 at the 10:38 mark of the second period with a wrist shot snipe over the glove of Kalm from the middle of the left faceoff circle. Guay and Benoit picked up assists on the power play goal.
Freshman defenseman Molly Flanagan (Lutz, Fla.) scored a beauty of a breakaway goal at the 17:36 mark of the first period, turning a Castleton defender inside out and then deking out the Castleton goalie before slipping the puck behind Kalm for her second goal of the season. Sedlar played the puck to Flanagan in the neutral zone and then she did the rest carrying the puck all the way in from the red line.
Norwich didn’t score in the second period, but Blossom Truel (Stratford, Wis.) scored her fifth goal of the year on a redirection at the 3:10 mark of the third period off assists from Sophie McGovern (Hermantown, Minn.) and Taylor Tom (Kenora, Ontario).
Guay capped the scoring with a beautiful shorthanded goal at the 5:55 mark, skating in on a breakaway after a Morgan Tefft (Redwood City, Calif.) poked the puck out the zone with a lunging effort. Berge picked up the secondary assist after she backhanded the puck away from a Castleton defender near the boards.
Winstanley improved to 3-0-0 on the season and picked up her fourth career shutout.
Norwich will finish off the first half of the season on the road at Suffolk and Southern Maine on Friday and Saturday.