Women’s Hockey: Plattsburgh Continues Mastery Over Norwich, Tops Cadets For East-West Challenge Title

Courtesy Norwich Sports Information

NORTHFIELD – The Plattsburgh State Cardinals continued their mastery of the Norwich University women’s ice hockey team with a 3-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at Kreitzberg Arena in the East-West Hockey Classic Championship game.

 

The No. 1-ranked and three-time defending national champion Cardinals (12-1-0, 6-1-0 ECAC West) got two first-period goals from the tournament MVP Courtney Moriarty en route to their second straight East-West Hockey Classic title. Plattsburgh also extended its unbeaten streak to 12 straight vs. Norwich. The Cardinals are now 10-0-2 vs. the Cadets and swept both meetings this year by a 3-1 score each time.

 

Plattsburgh needed just 51 seconds to get on the scoreboard as Moriarty slipped a shot through NU starting goalie Celeste Robert’s five-hole off a pass from behind the net by Mackenzie Millen to give the Cardinals the early advantage.

 

Moriarty struck again at the 10:33 mark with a similar goal, beating Robert five-hole again off assists from Jordan Lipson and Hannah Kiraly. The second goal pulled the plug on Robert’s night as she was lifted for junior Laurie King (Waddington, N.Y.), who played the duration of the game.

 

Neither side was able to score in the second period despite Norwich heavily controlling the play, outshooting Plattsburgh 9-4.

 

Norwich (9-2-1, 6-0-0 NEHC) finally got on the board at the 10:37 mark of the third period with junior Erin Joyce (Manchester, N.H.) tipping an initial shot by Robyn Foley (Goulds, Newfoundland and Labrador) past Plattsburgh goalie Camille Leonard to cut the deficit to 2-1. Junior Nicole Goebel (Swift Current, Saskatchewan) notched the second assist after feeding the puck back to Foley. Goebel also posted a game-high five blocked shots for the Cadets.

 

Plattsburgh State added the big insurance tally though with 45 seconds left in the game on a power play goal after Maggie Conroy was whistled for a tripping penalty late in the period.

 

The Cardinals’ Kayla Meneghin notched her ninth goal of the season off assists from Ashley Songin and Melissa Sheeran to put the game away for good. Sheeran had an initial shot saved by King but Songin was first to the rebound, pushing it over to the left side of the crease where Meneghin was standing to flip the puck past King before she could recover.

 

King made 16 of 17 saves in relief for the Cadets. Robert made one save and was saddled with the loss to drop to 2-2-0 on the season. Leonard picked up the victory, improving to 12-1 on the year by stopping 17 shots.

 

Lipson and Kiraly were named to the All-Tournament team for Plattsburgh, while NU’s Sophie McGovern (Hermantown, Minn.) and King earned honors as well. Adrian’s Brooke Lupi and Elmira’s Meghan Fonfara were also named to the All-Tournament team. Lupi scored four goals on the weekend, with two in each game to help lead the Bulldogs to a 5-3 win over Elmira in the consolation game on Sunday. Fonfara had two goals and an assist for the Soaring Eagles.

 

Plattsburgh State won the East-West Hockey Classic for the second straight year and have been the only team to claim the tournament title since it switched to a true tournament format after five years of pre-determined matchups.