Box Score Photo courtesy Adam Caira, Times-Argus
NORTHFIELD, Vt. – When the chips are down, you call on your captains to lead the way.
The Norwich University women's soccer team got just that on Monday afternoon as co-captains Brittany Casey (Pointe-Claire, Quebec) and Baylie Lamarre (Tyngsboro, Mass.) each scored a goal and added an assist to the lead the Cadets to a huge 3-2 upset win over first-place Lasell College.
The win kept Norwich (5-6-2, 3-4-2 GNAC) in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) playoff hunt and also handed two-time defending league champion Lasell (9-2-0, 7-1-0 GNAC) its first conference loss of 2012. The Lasers also had their eight-game winning streak snapped with their last loss coming on Sept. 2 to Elizabethtown in the championship game of their own kickoff tournament.
The Cadets didn't take long to seize control of the game when Lamarre blasted a free kick from 40 yards out that crossed up Lasell goalkeeper Leah Pappalardo and skipped into the back of the net just 1:02 in.
Lamarre sent a high-arching shot towards the goal that Pappalardo seemed to have a beat on initially, however at the last second the ball ricocheted off the LC keeper's hands and bounced into the left corner of the net to give Norwich a 1-0 lead.
Lamarre was also a warrior all day on the NU backline, halting numerous Lasell scoring chances to keep the high-powered Laser offense in check.
Norwich added to its lead in the 37th minute when freshman midfielder Sara Goes (East Providence, R.I.) beat Pappalardo to the ball and flipped a shot past the sprawled out LC keeper as she was coming off her line to try and cover Casey's initial shot that was blocked by a Lasell defender.
Just before the half, Casey extended the Cadets' lead to 3-0 when she outraced the entire Lasell backline to run down a booming goal kick off the foot of Lamarre that cleared everyone's heads.
Casey took a few dribbles inside to just inside the 18-yard box to pull Pappalardo out to challenge and then she slipped the ball past the Lasers' keeper to the right corner of the net for her team-leading seventh goal of the season. All seven of her goals have come in NU's last seven games and the Cadets are 4-2-1 during that stretch.
Lasell wouldn't go quietly though as the Lasers peppered the NU goal in the second half, outshooting the Cadets 15-4.
LC finally solved NU junior goalkeeper Allison Hull (South Royalton, Vt.) in the 53rd minute when Bridget Lynch got the Lasers on the board with her conference and team-leading 17th goal of the season.
Lynch beat Norwich's Grace Fitzpatrick and Hull to a loose ball in the penalty area and then slid the ball into the open net to cut the deficit to 3-1.
The Lasers kept up the pressure and were rewarded again in the 81st minute when Katie Lynch emerged from a scrum in the box to flick the ball into the back left corner of the net and cut the Norwich lead to one.
Lasell nearly tied the game with 2:03 left in regulation but Molly Fitzgerald pushed a shot less than a foot wide of the right post.
That was the last chance the Lasers would get as Norwich held on in the final two minutes to pick up the crucial three points and reignite the Cadets' GNAC postseason chances.
Hull made four saves for Norwich to improve to 4-5-2 on the year, while Pappalardo made six saves for Lasell to fall to 9-2-0 on the season.
Monday's win snapped the Cadets' three-game losing streak to Lasell and now NU holds a 5-3 lead in the all-time series. Norwich's last win prior to Monday over Lasell was a 4-0 win on Oct. 17, 2009.
The Cadets currently hold the eighth and final tournament spot in the GNAC standings with 11 points. Johnson & Wales sits ninth with nine points and two games in hand on NU, while St. Joseph's (Maine) is 10th with eight points and has one game in hand.
Norwich hits the road for its next two games with Emerson on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 1 p.m. and then Simmons on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m, before returning home for the GNAC regular season finale on Saturday, Oct. 20 against Johnson & Wales.
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