Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich women's ice hockey team got two goals each from Jillayne DeBus (Howell, Mich.), Sarianne Lynn (Wethersfield, Conn.) and Renee Lortie (Cornwall, Ontario) as the Cadets scored seven unanswered goals to rout New England College 7-1 on Saturday afternoon at Kreitzberg Arena in ECAC East action.
The nationally No. 1-ranked Cadets (15-2-1, 12-0-1 ECAC East) fell behind 1-0 just 1:33 into the game when Kaleigh Costello beat Norwich goaltender Joanie Plamondon (Pont-Rogue, Quebec) to her left off assists Alexis Fitzpatrick and Jamie Tabb.
However, Norwich responded with two goals in a span of 42 seconds to take a 2-1 lead and the Cadets never looked back from there.
DeBus sparked the Cadets' offense to life at the 4:57 mark of the period when she slammed the puck past New England College goalie Lauren Hopps off assists from Jackie Perez (San Gabriel, Calif.) and Tyne Gove (Berwick, Ontario).
Lortie gave NU the lead for good at the 5:39 mark when she beat Hopps top shelf glove side with a pretty wrist shot off assists from Marie-Philip Guay (Longueuil, Quebec) and Kaycie Anderson (Maple Plain, Minn.)
Lynn closed the first-period scoring at the 17:05 mark when she made it 3-1 off an assist from Brittany Sharman (Ayer's Cliff, Quebec).
Lortie scored her second of the afternoon and 12th of the season 3:37 into the second period with assists from Sharman and Baylie Lamarre (Tyngsboro, Mass.) to increase the lead to 4-1.
Freshman forward Carolyn Valentine (Lake Placid, N.Y.) notched her first career goal 5:08 later in memorable fashion when she went top shelf far post to beat Hopps on a 3-on-1 rush.
Lynn added her second tally of the game with 36 seconds left in the period off assists from Gove and Anderson.
DeBus capped the scoring with her 10th goal of the season at the 13:48 mark of the third period with assists from Elle Kadel (Fairbanks, Alaska) and Lynn.
Plamondon made 15 saves for Norwich to pick up the win and improve to 6-1-1 on the season. Hopps made 24 saves through two periods of play and dropped to 1-2-0 on the year. Kristen Conners came on in the third period and made 10 stops for the Pilgrims.
New England College dropped to 6-10-2 overall and 4-6-2 in ECAC East play with the loss.
Norwich will look to extend its ECAC East regular season unbeaten streak to 35 games on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. when the Cadets host in-state foe Castleton State. NU beat the Spartans 4-0 earlier this season.
For all the latest Norwich Athletics news go to www.norwichathletics.com, become a fan on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/NUCadets, visit our YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/madkins11100, or follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NorwichCadets
-CADETS-