Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University women's ice hockey team scored eight unanswered goals en route to its 14th straight victory in a 8-1 win over New England College on Saturday afternoon in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East Quarterfinals at Kreitzberg Arena.
Top-seeded Norwich (23-3-0) got a pair of goals from junior forward Madyson Moore (Dubuque, Iowa) and four assists from senior defenseman Kayla Parsons (Fairbanks, Alaska) as the Cadets rallied from an early 1-0 hole to blow out the Pilgrims with their second highest single-game goal total of the season.
NEC's Morgan Braniff opened the scoring at the 5:11 mark of the first period when she intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, skated into the NU zone and beat Norwich junior starting goalie Taylor Fairchild (Overland Park, Kan.) with a wrist shot that just ended up trickling over the line inside the right goal post.
Sophomore defenseman Taylor Cross (Saugus, Mass.) wasted little time tying the game back up though as she blasted a slap shot from the blue line that beat NEC starting goalie Lauren Hopps just 53 seconds later. Kaycie Anderson (Maple Plain, Minn.) and Kayla Lascelle (Cornwall, Ontario) notched assists on the goal.
Junior forward Meghan Papagno (Wakefield, Mass.) put Norwich on top for good at the 8:25 mark of the first when she made a perfect tip off a shot from Parsons that deflected over the shoulder of Hopps to make it 2-1 Cadets. Lascelle picked up her second assist of the day after feeding Parsons with a d to d pass.
Sophomore forward Alison Greene (Massena, N.Y.) made it 3-1 at the 11:45 mark of the first period when she beat Hopps with a soft wrist shot to the left side of the net off an assist from Moore.
Sophomore defenseman Madison Gallagher (Kirkland, Quebec) capped the first period scoring with Norwich's fourth goal in a span of 6:42 when she poked the puck into the net while falling to the ice off assists from Elle Kadel (Fairbanks, Alaska) and Tori Charron (Tecumseh, Ontario).
Moore notched her first of the day and 12th of the season with a snipe to the top right corner of the net off a long outlet pass from Parsons to make it 5-1 Norwich at the 1:47 mark of the second period.
Junior forward Vanessa Champagne (St. Nazaire, Quebec) scored her fourth of the year with a shot along the ice that hit off Hopps' stick, fluttered up into the air and settled back down into the net to make it 6-1 Cadets. Charron picked up her second assist of the day on the goal.
Moore and freshman forward Kaka McComber (Kahnewake, Quebec) each tallied third period goals to cap the scoring on the day. Moore made a perfect tip on a shot from Parsons for her 13th of the season and second of the day. McComber notched her second of the year at the 17:15 mark from Kadel and Parsons to make it 8-1.
Hopps made 38 saves for NEC in the loss. Fairchild made six saves in two periods of action to pick up her 11th win of the season. Carrier came on to make three saves in the final period.
Norwich outshot NEC 46-10.
The Cadets moved a step closer in their attempt to win their fifth ECAC East Tournament title in the last seven seasons. NU will wait to find out who its next opponent is after the rest of the quarterfinal matchups start at 7 p.m. If all the top seeds win, Norwich would face the winner of the Manhattanville/UMass-Boston game, next Saturday, March 1 at 3 p.m.
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