Courtesy Norwich, Middlebury, Castleton and St. Michael’s Sports Information Offices
Four Stories Below …
NORTHFIELD –– Senior forwards Amanda Conway (Methuen, Mass.) and Sophie McGovern (Hermantown, Minn.) each scored two goals and had an assist to lead the Norwich University women’s ice hockey team to a 6-1 victory over Southern Maine on Sunday afternoon at Kreitzberg Arena.
The dynamic duo connected just 27 seconds into the game with Conway threading a pass to McGovern in the middle of the slot and she tapped it in to the far side of the net to give the Cadets (17-4-2, 14-0-0 NEHC) a 1-0 lead that they would never look back from.
Junior defenseman Samantha Benoit (Bow, N.H.) added another goal late in the first period with a shot from the middle of the slot that found the back of the net off assists from Kelley Madden (Novelty, Ohio) and Brynn Wopperer (Amherst, N.Y.). Madden fed Benoit the puck from behind the net and then Benoit did the rest for her fourth goal of the season.
Conway scored Norwich’s first of three power play goals in the game at the 4:32 mark of the second period off an assist from Mikah Baptiste (Ottawa, Ontario).
Southern Maine (10-12-2, 8-7-0 NEHC) got a goal back to cut the deficit to 3-1 at the 5:36 mark of the middle frame as Vermont-native and former Northfield High School standout Brianna Doty shoveled home a loose rebound in the crease for her third goal of the season. Katie Nolan took a pass in the neutral zone from Grace Simmons, skated over the blue line and then fired a high slap shot off the shoulder of NU goalie Emily Lambert (Riverview, Mich.). The rebound deflected up and over her shoulder and then puck just saw in the crease until Doty crashed the net and put it home before Lambert could find it.
McGovern scored her second of the game and her 15th of the season on the power play at the 9:06 mark off assists from Ingrid Holstad-Berge (Stavanger, Norway) and Benoit.
Conway added her second tally of the game and 24th goal of the season at the 18:15 mark of the second period after she took a pass in her own zone from Julia Masotta (Tewksbury, Mass.) and used her speed to skate past a couple of USM players before bearing down in on the goal and beating Whitney Padgett.
Conway’s second goal capped her three-point night and brought her career total to 174 points, just one shy of the Norwich all-time record, held by Julie Fortier ’12 with 175.
Freshman forward Ann-Frederique Guay (St. Lambert-de-Lauzon, Quebec) finished off the scoring with her 10th goal of the season on the power play off assists from Holstad-Berge and McGovern. Guay sniped the top left corner of the net from the corner boards to make it 6-1 Norwich.
Lambert made 16 saves in goal to improve to 6-1-0 on the season.
Padgett made 14 saves before being pulled for Hannah Aveni in the third period. Aveni made 18 saves in relief.
Norwich extended its unbeaten streak to eight-straight games with the victory and also improved its NEHC unbeaten streak to 48 straight games. The Cadets will have the chance to finish out their third straight unbeaten regular season next weekend when they host UMass Boston at 4 p.m. on Friday and then Johnson & Wales on Saturday at 1 p.m.
MIDDLEBURY — Middlebury scored a late goal in the second period and goalie Anna Goldstein stopped all 15 shots she faced, as the Panthers skated to a 1-0 triumph on Sunday over Trinity. Middlebury (15-2-3, 10-1-1) returns to NESCAC play at home on Friday against Williams, while the Bantams (5-11-2, 0-10-2) are at Bowdoin with both contests starting at 7:00 p.m.
The teams skated through a fast-moving first period with the hosts holding an 8-4 edge in shots. Middlebury’s best scoring chance came with 6:46 on the clock, as Mollie Dalbey gained possession of the puck on the right boards and fed Sidney Portner in the slot, with her bid being stopped by Trinity goalie Kai-Lilly Karpman.
In the second stanza, Trinity had a pair of scoring opportunities off the stick of Angelica Mushenko that Goldstein denied. The Panthers had a very active shift just past the midway point of the frame, as Madie Leidt fired four shots on goal and Katie Hargrave another. That pair assisted on a late goal for the hosts when Jenna Letterie backhanded a rebound into the net with 26.6 seconds left before the intermission for a 1-0 lead.
The Panthers looked to double their lead just over five minutes into the final frame with a power play. Letterie hit the left post, while Claudia Vira had two near misses on shots that went just wide. Trinity’s Olive Scull had a shot from the left point travel through several sets of legs that Goldstein turned aside with less than six minutes remaining. Middlebury was whistled for a penalty with 1:49 left and the Bantams pulled Karpman for an extra skater. Ethel Wilhemsson and Mushenko each had shots on goal during the 6×4 advantage, but were unable to get the equalizer as the hosts ran out the clock.
The shutout was Goldstein’s fourth of the season, while Karpman stopped 37-38 Panther shots she faced.
Middlebury came up empty on six power plays, while Trinity went scoreless in three opportunities. The Panthers remained perfect on the penalty kill against conference opponents this season, going 38-38.
RUTLAND — Nicolle Trivino’s goal at 2:38 of overtime gave the Castleton University Spartans a 3-2 win over Suffolk on Sunday afternoon at Spartan Arena.
Kaitlin Bardellini and Darby Palisi also scored for the Spartans and goaltender Alexis Kalm recorded 35 saves in earning the win.
Izzy Hendry and Shana Sote scored for the visiting Rams.
With the win Castleton maintains their hold on second place in the NEHC standings. Castleton is now 12-8-3 overall and 9-3-2 in league play.
SOUTH BURLINGTON — The Saint Michael’s College women’s ice hockey team finished a two-game weekend series with Post University by dropping a 3-1 decision on Sunday at Cairns Arena during New England Women’s Hockey Alliance (NEWHA) action.
RECORDS
Saint Michael’s (5-18-4, 4-13-1 NEWHA), Post (12-20, 2-16 NEWHA)
SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS
· Junior Courtney Kelly (Arlington, Mass./Boston Jr. Shamrocks), 1 goal, 3 blocks
· First-year Maeghan Kennard (Hamlin, N.Y./Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles), 1 assist, 17-for-23 faceoffs
· Sophomore Jenna Harrison (Kitchener, Ontario/Wellesley), 13-for-22
· Senior Vika Simons (Essex Junction, Vt./Minnesota Duluth Club), 27 saves
· Senior Arianna Boscia (Cranston, R.I./La Salle Academy), 3 blocks
· Junior Riley Nichols (Gilford, N.H./Tilton School), 4-for-6 faceoffs
OPPONENT LEADERS
· First-year Sadie Storm, 2 goals
· First-year Natalie Sammons, 1 goal
· Senior Jenna Baumgartner, 52 saves
GAME FACTS
· This was the Purple Knights’ 12th game this season decided by two goals or less, including fourth in a row.
· Senior Alissa Sullivan (Hingham, Mass./Hingham) appeared in her program-record 104th career game, breaking a tie with Jess Tourville ’09, Meghan Sweezey ’10, Macey Thomas ’14, Erin Dwyer ’17 and Kayla Kee ’17.
· Simons moved past the 900-save plateau during the game (912) and is within 12 stops of Erin Stevens’ ’13 seven-year-old school record.
THE ACTION
· The Purple Knights held a 13-6 advantage in shots during a scoreless first period.
· First-year Catherine Proulx skated alone up the left wing with two minutes gone, but her shot from the lower left circle was denied by Simons’ right shoulder.
· The Purple and Gold had a 2-on-1 breakout in the latter portion of the frame, with junior Krista Ferrari’s (Dunstable, Mass./East Coast Wizards) slap shot from the right circle denied at 11:39 by Baumgartner.
· Sophomore Erica Pareja (Odenton, Md./Washington Pride) made a nice move below the left circle with 1:10 left to get alone on the goalie, who made a glove save.
· Early in the second period, first-year Ella Saracco (Melrose, Mass./Middlesex Islanders) sent a one-time pass from the left boards into the circle for Harrison, whose slap shot was saved at 3:05.
· The Purple Knights nearly broke the deadlock at 5:38 during a 4-on-4 situation, with Kelly leading a 2-on-1 break and dropping a pass into the slot for Nichols, whose return pass to an open Kelly at the right post was broken up by Baumgartner’s left skate.
· Now shorthanded, Saint Michael’s had nearly the same play unfold less than a minute later, with Kelly leading a 2-on-1 break with Kennard, with the give-and-go play ending up with Kelly sliding the puck under a sprawling Baumgartner at 6:23 for the first goal of the game.
· The hosts nearly made it 2-0 shortly thereafter, but Ferrari had a shot on an open net blocked by a Post skater before she grabbed the rebound and rung the right post at 8:30.
· Post got on the board less than a minute later, as Storm intercepted a Purple Knight pass in neutral ice, skated over the blue line and sent a fluttering puck into the upper left corner of the net with 8:59 gone.
· Simons made a pair of big stops during odd-woman rushes late in the stanza, denying junior Paige Dundas’ shorthanded breakaway at 16:22 before making a blocker stop on first-year Madison Turley with 17:30 gone.
· After a long tie-up along the far boards in the final minute, a Purple Knight skated away with possession, but first-year Jenna Abeyta knocked the puck to Sammons in the slot for a 2-on-0 break, and Sammons picked the upper right corner with 41.7 seconds remaining.
· Nichols had a good look out front at 1:46 of the third period, but her one-timer was stopped by Baumgartner’s left pad.
· During a power play at 9:57, Boscia juked her defender in the right circle to get a cleaner look on goal, but Baumgartner made a glove save, and junior Maddie Gervais’ (Glastonbury, Conn./East Catholic) redirection was stopped by the goalie’s toe at 12:21. Senior Kendall Fitzgerald immediately countered at the other end, but Simons denied her shorthanded breakaway bid.
· Gervais again nearly knotted the contest with 15:15 gone, flying up the right wing and trying to bank a shot off the goalie’s back, but Baumgartner covered while falling backwards.
· Saint Michael’s pulled Simons for an extra skater at 17:41, with Kennard having a bid saved four seconds later. Storm scored on the empty net from just outside the blue line at 18:06, hitting a Purple Knight skate on the way in.
NEXT SAINT MICHAEL’S GAME
Friday vs. Sacred Heart University, 7 p.m.