Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University women's ice hockey team extended its winning streak to nine straight games with a 4-0 shutout victory over Southern Maine on Friday afternoon at Kreitzberg Arena in Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East action.
Senior co-captain forward Jillayne DeBus (Howell, Mich.) broke a scoreless tie at the 9:30 mark of the second period to give Norwich (15-2-3, 14-1-0 ECAC East) the only lead it would need. The Cadets tacked on three more goals in the third period with power play tallies from Tori Charron (Tecumseh, Ontario), Renee Lortie (Cornwall, Ontario) and Brittany Sharman (Ayer's Cliff, Quebec).
DeBus notched her 11th goal of the season midway through the second stanza by throwing a puck at Southern Maine goalie Liz Bergstrom from behind the net that bounced off the Huskies' goalie's pad and just trickled over the goal line to give Norwich a 1-0 lead.
The Cadets finally were able to open it up in the third period by taking advantage of a slew of Southern Maine penalties to score three power play goals and put the game away for good.
Charron made it 2-0 at the 5:35 mark of the period with her nation-leading 21st goal by slamming home a rebound into a wide-open net after Bergstrom made a save on initial shot by Marie-Philip Guay (Longueuil, Quebec). Taylor Cross (Saugus, Mass.) also picked up an assist on the goal after making a d to d pass over to Guay at the opposite point.
Lortie pushed the lead to 3-0 with a picturesque top-shelf backhand from the bottom of the left faceoff circle off an assist from Maggie Cross (Wattsburgh, Pa.) for her 11th goal of the season.
Sharman capped the scoring at the 19:34 mark of the period when she wristed a shot from the high slot that beat Bergstrom to the left corner of the net off assists from Paige Foster (Slave Lake, Alberta) and Guay.
Norwich outshot Southern Maine 30-9. Junior goalie Kelly Fisk (Hannibal, N.Y.) turned aside all nine shots she faced to pick up her first shutout of the season and improve to 5-1-1 in the process. Bergstrom made 26 saves for Southern Maine and dropped to 3-7-3 on the year.
Norwich returns to action tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. when the Cadets host Plymouth State on the inaugural Military Appreciation Night at Kreitzberg Arena.
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