Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The No. 4/3 –ranked Norwich University women's ice hockey team had its 12-game winning streak snapped at the hands of its archrival Manhattanville on Friday night at Kreitzberg Arena in a 3-2 loss.
Lynsey Schill tallied what would prove to be the game-winning goal at the 2:25 mark of the third period off an assist from Sonia Occhionero. Schill's fifth goal of the season gave Manhattanville (16-7-1, 14-2-1 ECAC East) a 3-1 lead that they would cling to for the remainder of the game, despite being outshot 9-2 in the period.
Schill beat Norwich goalie Kelly Fisk (Hannibal, N.Y.) five-hole off a pass from Occhionero from behind the net to give the Valiants a two-goal lead and continue to build off the momentum from the second period. Manhattanville scored twice in the middle stanza to take the lead after Norwich led 1-0 heading into the first intermission.
Alla Traun and Alyssa Taylor scored goals 2:27 apart early in the second period to seize the momentum. Traun took a feed from Mary Rose Morrison at the middle of the right faceoff circle and wristed a shot that bounced off the top of Fisk's left shoulder before fluttering up into the air and settling into the back left corner of the net.
Taylor slipped a rebound under Fisk's glove after Brighid Noone's initial shot from the blue line was stopped by the NU goalie. Senior forward Katie Little also picked up an assist after Jessica Kehoe won the faceoff and Little slid the puck back to Noone at the point.
Norwich (18-3-3, 15-2-0 ECAC East) took a 1-0 lead in the final seconds of the first period when junior forward Tori Charron (Tecumseh, Ontario) potted her nation-leading 27th goal of the season with a power play tally off an assist from Jillayne DeBus (Howell, Mich.). DeBus made a great individual effort to setup the goal by spinning out of the corner to create space and get past a Manhattanville defender before sliding the puck over to a waiting Charron on the weak side below the right faceoff circle. Charron corralled the pass and waited for Manhattanville goalie Mary Evans to sprawl out and go down to the ice before calmly tucking the puck underneath the crossbar to give the Cadets the lead heading into the first intermission.
Junior forward Renee Lortie (Cornwall, Ontario) also picked up an assist on the goal to move within three points of becoming the sixth player in Norwich women's hockey history to record 100 career points.
Norwich cut the deficit to 3-2 when sophomore forward Tyne Gove (Berwick, Ontario) tallied her fourth goal of the season with a desperation backhand from behind the goal line that deflected off Evans' skate and into the back of the net with an extra skater on at the 18:17 mark of the period.
Just moments later, DeBus had a chance to tie the game when she skated in from the left wing but her wrist shot sailed off the crossbar after it beat Evans cleanly.
That's as close as Norwich would get as Manhattanville buckled down in the remainder to pick up its first win over the Cadets since the 2011 ECAC East Championship game, which the Valiants won 4-2. Manhattanville now holds an 8-5-0 lead in the all-time series.
Evans made 17 saves for Manhattanville to improve to 11-6-1 on the year, while Fisk made seven saves to drop to 6-2-1 on the season.
With the victory, Manhattanville moves to within one point of Norwich in the ECAC East standings. Norwich can still clinch first place and its third straight regular season title with a win tomorrow on Senior Day against Nichols. Faceoff is set for 3 p.m. at Kreitzberg Arena.
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