MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The Norwich University women's hockey team dropped a 2-1 heartbreaker in overtime to Middlebury College on Tuesday night in non-conference action at Kenyon Arena.
Junior forward Katie Mandigo scored 43 seconds into overtime to lift Middlebury (14-2-3, 9-1-2 NESCAC) to a 2-1 victory over its intrastate rival. Maddie Winslow and Elizabeth Wulf tallied the assists on the goal as the Panthers downed NU for just the second time in the seven all-time meetings between the two schools.
Mandigo fired a shot that squeezed between NU sophomore goalie Celeste Robert's (Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec) body and the near post to stretch the Panthers' unbeaten streak to 14 straight.
Norwich (13-4-2, 10-0-1 ECAC East) got on the board first at the 13:21 mark of the second period with junior forward Rachel Bellio (Denver, Colo.) slipping home her fifth goal of the season on a rebound off assists from Maki Shuchuk (Madison, Wis.) and Kim Tiberi (Raleigh, N.C.).
Shuchuk won a faceoff back to Tiberi at the point and then freshmen defenseman fired the puck towards the net. The puck kicked around in front of the Middlebury goal before Shuchuk found it and sent a backhand on net that was saved by senior goalie Madeline Marsh. However, Bellio found herself in the right place at the right time and shoveled the rebound over a sprawled out Marsh to put Norwich up 1-0.
Middlebury nearly took the lead earlier in the period when the Panthers' leading scorer and reigning NESCAC Player of the Week Emily Fluke was stoned on a breakaway by a split save by Robert.
The Panthers got on the board at the 7:09 mark of the third period when Hannah Bielawski laced a slap shot from the point on the power play that sailed over the glove of Robert to knot the score at 1-1. Carly Watson and Jessica Young notched assists on the goal after working the puck across the top of their power play set up.
Middlebury outshot Norwich 24-17. Robert made 22 saves for the Cadets to fall to 6-2-1 on the year. Marsh made 16 saves for the Panthers to improve to 8-0-2 on the season.
Norwich will look to get back on track on Friday when it hosts Franklin Pierce at 4 p.m. on Senior Day at Kreitzberg Arena.
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