HENNIKER, N.H. – Junior forward Julie
Fortier provided all the offense for Norwich with a hat
trick as the Cadets rallied past New England College 3-2 on Friday
afternoon at the Lee Clement Ice Arena in ECAC East action.
Fortier's three-goal game gave her 50 for her career in
the Maroon and Gold and she is now just one point away from
becoming just the second player in program history to reach the
100-career-point mark.
New England College (8-6-3, 7-3-1 ECAC East) led 1-0 heading to
the third period courtesy of Chelsie
Boroski's tally at the 10:14 mark of the first
period.
The Pilgrims held tight through the second period despite being
outshot 18-3 by Norwich.
However, the Cadets (13-3-1, 10-0-1 ECAC East) finally broke
through a little over five minutes into the third period when
Fortier scored on a power play off assists from Renee
Lortie and Melissa Rundlett to tie the
game at 1.
Just 3:27 later, Fortier struck again with her 10th
goal of the season with an assist once again from Lortie, as well
as Kayla Parsons.
New England College's Rachel White tied
the game back up at two with exactly eight minutes to go in the
game off assists from Kate Kellar and
Kaleigh Costello.
But, Fortier had the last laugh as she completed her hat trick
and provided what would go on to be the game-winning goal when she
scored once again on the power play with 3:30 left in the game off
assists from Amanda Wilks and Parsons.
NU senior goaltender Cindy Fortin made 19 saves
to win her 10th straight game and improve to 10-1-0 on
the season.
NEC's Teraysa White was saddled with the
loss after stopping 40 shots and dropped to 7-5-2.
The Cadets were 3-for-12 on the power play, while New England
College went 2-for-4. Norwich outshot NEC 43-21 and 39-9 in the
final two periods.
Fortier's hat trick was her second of the season and third
of her career. She netted three goals and an assist against
Castleton on Nov. 5.
The Cadets now hold a three-point lead in the ECAC East
standings with a game in hand over Manhattanville after the
Valiants lost 4-1 to St. Anselm on Friday night.
NU returns to action Saturday night when it travels to take on
in-state foe Castleton at 7 p.m. at Spartan Arena.
