Box Score

NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Suzanne Whitaker scored three goals and dished out one assist, and Mollie Fitzpatrick posted a hat trick as well to help lead the Norwich University women's lacrosse team to a 12-2 victory over St. Joseph College (Conn.) in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) game Sunday afternoon at a blustery and cool Howard Field.

Kacey Abbriano and Lindsey Mathias each chipped in two goals and two assists apiece for the Cadets (5-5, 5-1 GNAC). Chelsea Martin and Danielle Del Dotto each netted one goal for Norwich, while Maura Kee picked up one assist to round out the scoring for the Cadets.

St. Joseph (0-9, 0-5 GNAC) got second half goals from Diana Soucier and Cait Witham to account for its scoring.

The Cadets got out of the blocks quickly as Mathias scored off a feed from Abbriano just 20 seconds into the contest. Whitaker potted an unassisted marker about a minute later to stake the hosts to a 2-0 advantage. Norwich scored seven more times in the first half to take a commanding 9-0 lead into the intermission.

Norwich completely dominated the first half, outshooting St. Joseph 18-1 in the frame.

Neither team scored in the first 12 minutes of the second half, but Whitaker tallied her third marker of the contest with 17:24 to play in the game to give the Cadets a 10-0 cushion.

St. Joseph got on the board eight minutes later when Soucier scored off a free position attempt. The Blue Jays tallied their second straight goal less than one minute later when Witham netted an unassisted marker.

That was as close as SJC would get, however, as NU added goals by Del Dotto and Fitzpatrick to close out the scoring.

Norwich held a 25-8 edge in shots for the game. The Cadets enjoyed a 56-26 advantage in groundballs. Fitzpatrick led the way with 11 groundballs, while Abbriano scooped up seven.

Kellie Pickel got the start for Norwich in goal, and she made one save in 16 minutes of action. Meghan Kennedy came on in relief and stopped four shots in nearly 44 minutes of playing time.

SJC goalkeeper Michelle Silva stopped 10 shots in the loss for the Blue Jays.

Norwich will return to action on Tuesday, April 13, when the Cadets travel to Castleton, Vt., to battle in-state rival Castleton State College at 7 p.m.

Goals By Period                       1                   2                Total
St. Joseph College (Conn.)        0                   2                2
Norwich University                     9                   3                12