(Release courtesy Plymouth State Sports Information)

PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Junior Tori Charron (Tecumseh, Ont.) and freshman Alison Greene (Massena, N.Y.) scored two goals apiece Friday evening as defending national runner-up Norwich University spoiled the season opener for the Plymouth State University women's ice hockey team, defeating the Panthers 7-0 in an Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Women's East contest at Hanaway Rink.

            The Cadets, who are ranked #1 in this week's NCAA Division III national poll, tallied three goals in each of the first two periods and added one more in the final frame.  Sophomore goalie Caroline Barth (Friedens, Pa.) made five saves to post her first victory of the season (1-0-0) as Norwich improves to 3-0-2 overall and 3-0-0 in the ECAC East.

            PSU got a solid performance from junior goalie Ali Ponte (Richmond Hill, Ontario), who turned away 34 Norwich shots.  While the score was lopsided, it marked a big improvement over last season when the Panthers dropped a pair of 14-0 setbacks to the Cadets.

            Norwich got on the board less than four minutes into the game when freshman Taylor Cross (Saugus, Mass.) skated across the blue line, cut to the middle and fired a slap shot off the right post and in for her first career goal.  The Cadets added a power play goal at the 14:14 mark as Greene scored on a rebound after Ponte had made the first save, and senior Jillayne DeBus (Howell, Mich.) knocked in a rebound with 34 seconds remaining in the period after picking the puck out of a scrum in front of the net.

            Greene broke in on a breakaway and fired a shot to the top right corner for her second of the game and third of the season seven minutes into the second period.  Junior Kayla Parsons (Fairbanks, Alaska) took a pass in the slot from behind the net from Charron and slid a shot through the goalie's pads just 16 seconds later to make it a 5-0 game, and Charron netted her first of the game with four minutes to go in the period when she ripped a shot top shelf from the lower right circle that Ponte had no chance at.

            Charron rounded out the scoring with her fifth of the season with less than five minutes remaining in the third period as she lifted a backhander over the goalie near the right post.

            PSU is home again on Saturday with an ECAC East game against Saint Michael's College (2:00 p.m.) while Norwich plays the second half of its weekend series at the University of Southern Maine (4:00 p.m.)