Courtesy Vermont, Middlebury and Norwich Sports Informations
Three Stories Below …
BURLINGTON — Skylar Fontaine scored the clinching goal for Northeastern (20-3-1, 17-2-0 HEAW) 3:35 into the game to defeat Vermont (9-11-6, 6-9-4 HEAW) 4-0 on Friday night at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
COACH’S QUOTE
“Our opponent was better than us tonight and there haven’t been many games this season that we can say that,” head coach Jim Plumer said. “We simply have to manage the puck and situations better. We need to be better in virtually every aspect of the game tomorrow.”
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Huskies struck first in the opening minutes on a slap shot by Fontaine. Alina Mueller found the defenseman at the top of the zone where she quickly delivered a slap shot past Natalie Ferenc (32 saves). Jess Schryver had the secondary assist on the goal, which came 3:35 into the game.
Theresa Schafzahl tested Aerin Frankel (16 saves) minutes later when she fired a low shot that forced the NU goaltender to stretch out and make a glove save.
Tessa Ward doubled the Northeastern lead early in the second period when she received a pass from just outside the crease and snuck a shot under the pads of Ferenc. Katie Cipra sent the pass from behind the goal and Peyton Anderson had the secondary assist.
Anderson registered her second point of the night when she scored 4:50 into the third period. The forward wristed a shot from the slot while on the rush for her fourth goal of the season. Brooke Tucker and Ward assisted on the marker.
Cipra added a goal with 3:49 remaining when she jammed home a loose puck. Anderson and Ward picked up their second assists of the night.
NOTES
The Catamounts supported the Headway Foundation by making the New Tough pact earlier this week. Following tonight’s game, Vermont posed in front of the Headway Foundation banner to help raise concussion awareness.
UP NEXT
The Catamounts and Huskies meet again on Saturday (Jan. 25) at 4 p.m. Tickets for the afternoon contest can be purchased at UVMAthletics.com/Tickets or at the Gutterson Fieldhouse box office, which opens one hour before puck drop. Saturday also is Rally Around Mental Health day. Fans are encouraged to stop by the Rally Around Mental Health Committee’s table to discuss the importance of mental health.
MIDDLEBURY — Second-ranked in Division Three, Middlebury opened the weekend by defeating Colby (9-3-2, 5-1-1) 3-0 in game one of a NESCAC series in Kenyon Arena. The Panthers (11-1-2, 6-0-1) and Mules are back at it on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
Middlebury opened the scoring just 3:38 into the game with a power-play goal. Jenna Letterie cleaned up a rebound, after an initial shot by Madie Leidt had been saved, earning her seventh of the year. After killing a penalty midway through the period, the Panthers nearly struck again, but Colby netminder Nina Prunster made a quick pad save on Morgan Griffith’s bid from point-blank range.
The Panthers made it a 2-0 game 9:46 into the second period with a four-on-four goal. Letterie fed Alexis Ryan, who’s shot from the top of the zone breezed past a screened Prunster for her second of the year.
Middlebury goaltender Lin Han kept it a 2-0 game in the third by flashing her right pad on a backhanded attempt by Cindy Giandomenico 4:30 into the final stanza. The Mules put on a lot of pressure during a power play that began at 6:20, but Han and the Panther defense stood its ground.
The Panthers added an insurance tally at the 9:32 mark with a five-on-three power-play goal. Eva Hendrikson fed Leidt at the left faceoff dot, before Leidt snapped a shot into the far side of the net for the 3-0 final.
Middlebury held a 26-21 shots advantage in the game as Han earned her 15th-career shutout with 21 stops. The Panthers were 2-7 on the power play, while holding the Mules scoreless on four attempts.
RUTLAND — Seniors Sophie McGovern (Hermantown, Minn.) and Amanda Conway (Methuen, Mass.) each scored two goals and had an assist to lead the Norwich University women’s ice hockey team to an 8-0 victory over Castleton University in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) action.
Senior Kelley Madden (Novelty, Ohio) scored two third period goals as well as Norwich (12-4-1, 9-0-0 NEHC) extended its conference unbeaten streak to 43 straight games with the victory.
Conway’s two goals extended her team-lead to 14 goals on the season. She also has 98 career goals, tying Plattsburgh State’s Melissa Sheeran ’18 at 97 and then UMass Boston’s Andrea Ciarletta ’07 at 98 to move into seventh place on the NCAA Division III all-time goal scoring list.
Norwich took a 3-0 lead after the first period with Maddi Blauth (Pennington, N.J.) scoring a slap shot blast off an assist from Carley Sedlar (Howell, Mich.) to open the scoring at the 2:59 mark. Junior Blossom Truel (Stratford, Wis.) made it 2-0 at the 7:17 mark off an assist from Brynn Wopperer (Amherst, N.Y.). Conway scored her first of the game with a shorthanded tally at the 17:38 mark.
McGovern scored Norwich’s next two goals at 41 seconds of the second period and 12:54 to increase the lead to 5-0. McGovern’s second tally was Norwich’s first power play goal in 2020. Samantha Benoit (Bow, N.H.) had assists on both of McGovern’s goals.
Madden capped the scoring in the third period with both of her goals, including one shorthanded for her fifth and sixth tallies of the season.
Sophomore goalie Alexa Berg (West Fargo, N.D.) stopped all 16 shots she faced to earn her fifth shutout of the season and improve to 5-3-1.
Norwich outshot Castleton 48-16 in the game.
The Cadets travel to New England College on Saturday for a 4 p.m. faceoff with the Pilgrims.