AMHERST, Mass. – The Norwich University women's hockey team jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period and never looked back en route to a 3-1 win over Amherst, as well as earning their 11th straight victory.
The Cadets (16-2-3, 15-1-0 ECAC East) got goals from Tori Charron (Tecumseh, Ontario), Stephanie Invernizzi (Hingham, Mass.) and Marie-Philip Guay (Longueuil, Quebec), while junior goaltender Kelly Fisk (Hannibal, N.Y.) made 14 saves.
Norwich didn't take long to start generating scoring chances as junior defenseman Brittany Sharman (Ayer's Cliff, Quebec) rang a shot from the blue line off the post just 30 seconds into the game. NU kept up the pressure with Kaycie Anderson (Maple Plain, Minn.) getting a quality chance from the top of the left faceoff circle that Stuart was able to get a glove on and keep out of the net.
The Cadets finally got one by Amherst starting goalie Kerri Stuart though at the 13:18 mark of the first period when Charron netted her nation-leading 24th goal of the season off assists from Jillayne DeBus (Howell, Mich.) and Vanessa Champagne (St. Nazarie, Quebec).
DeBus collected a loose puck to the side of the Amherst net and centered the puck to Charron who was crashing down the right wing. Charron corralled the pass and deked out Stuart who came out to challenge the angle. Charron sidestepped Stuart to the right and then slid the puck into the bottom right corner of the net to give Norwich a 1-0 lead.
Invernizzi upped the lead to 2-0 at the 18:02 mark of the first when she flipped a puck on her backhand from behind the goal line after junior forward Haley Gibson (Richmond, Ontario) deflected a pass and forced a turnover while fore checking an Amherst defender along the goal line near the left corner boards.
Guay extended the Cadets' lead to 3-0 when she lit the lamp for the second time this season by firing a wrist shot over the left shoulder of Stuart to beat her short side from the center of the right faceoff circle.
Norwich outshot Amherst 22-9 over the first 20 minutes. The Lord Jeffs turned up the intensity in the third period and finally were able to solve Fisk when Emily Flom scored off a scramble in front of the net while on the power play at the 5:22 mark of the third period. Tori Salmon and Megan Doyen picked up assists on the goal for Amherst.
The Lord Jeffs nearly cut the lead to one a little over three minutes later when Hayley Opperman rang a slap shot from the point off the crossbar.
However, despite controlling the play for the most part and outshooting the Cadets 6-2 over the final 20 minutes, Amherst was never able to get any closer.
The win was Norwich's first ever at Orr Rink after dropping the two previous meetings against Amherst, including a 2-0 defeat last season.
Stuart made 21 saves for Amherst in the loss to fall to 8-5-1. Fisk improved to 6-1-1 on the season for Norwich.
Norwich is idle this weekend before returning to action next Tuesday to wrap up its non-conference schedule for the season with a 7 p.m. faceoff against NESCAC in-state rival Middlebury.
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