Box Score   

NORTHFIELD, Vt. - Sophie Leclerc scored the game-winning goal early in the third period, and Chiara Traversa made some big saves down the stretch as the Norwich University women's ice hockey team opened its 2009-10 campaign with a 4-2 victory over Utica Friday evening at Kreitzberg Arena.

The Cadets (1-0) got on the scoreboard early in the first period when Julie Fortier scored off an assist from Kelsey Cone just two minutes into the frame. Norwich peppered Utica goaltender Jill Doherty with a total of 15 shots in the opening stanza, but the Cadets were unable to add to their lead and they carried a 1-0 advantage into the second period.

Norwich extended its lead to 2-0 during the early stages of the second period as Courtney Parisot took a feed from Sarah Scardino and scored her first career goal at the 2:13 mark.

Utica (0-1) trimmed its deficit to 2-1 midway through the second period when Jona Johnson scored on a breakaway. Meagan Sudik and Carmen Johnson picked up assists on the goal, which was scored at 10:34 of the second period.

Norwich outshot Utica 8-6 during a very entertaining middle frame.

The Cadets pushed their lead to 3-1 at the 3:07 mark of the third period on Leclerc's unassisted goal, which proved to be the game winner. The Pioneers made it interesting, though, when they scored 28 seconds later on MacKenzie Roy's blast from the blueline.

Utica pressured Traversa over the remainder of the period, but the sophomore net minder from Torino, Italy, shut the Pioneers down. Scardino netted an empty-net goal off a feed from Leclerc with 11 seconds to play to ice the game.

Traversa finished with 17 saves for the Cadets, while Doherty made 31 stops for the Pioneers.

Norwich outshot Utica, 35-19, in the game. The Cadets went 0-for-5 on the power play, while the Pioneers were 0-for-6 with the man-advantage.

Norwich returns to action on Friday, Nov. 6, when the Cadets travel to Plymouth, N.H., to take on ECAC East rival Plymouth State University in the conference opener for both schools. Faceoff for the league tilt is set for 6 p.m. NU swept both meetings versus PSU last year, winning by an average score of 10-0.