Box Score
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – For the second year in a row the Norwich University women's ice hockey team had its NCAA title hopes dashed by the Plattsburgh State Cardinals.
Plattsburgh (25-2-2) jumped out to a 4-0 lead before the midway point of the second period and then held off a ferocious Norwich comeback over the final 30 minutes to advance to the National Championship with a 5-2 win.
Norwich (22-5-2) got two goals from senior forward Kaycie Anderson (Maple Plain, Minn.) as the Cadets tried to muster a comeback, but it was too little too late as Plattsburgh added a late empty-net goal to earn a chance at a repeat as national champions tomorrow night vs. the UW-River Falls/Elmira winner.
Plattsburgh wasted little time taking a 1-0 lead as senior defenseman Alyssa Parke took advantage of an early power play opportunity, blasting a slap shot from the point into the bottom left corner of the net just 2:42 into the game.
Norwich had two power play opportunities after that but couldn't generate much in the way of offense as the Plattsburgh State penalty kill not only successfully kept the Cadets off the board, the Cardinals extended their lead to 2-0 with a controversial shorthanded goal.
Plattsburgh created a 2-on-1 going out of the zone after a Norwich player fell near the boards at the blue line to spring Jordan Lipson out of the zone. Lipson skated over the NU blue line and fed a pass over a NU defender to give Kayla Meneghin a 1-on-1 with the NU goalie Celeste Robert (Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec).
Meneghin skated in and took a wrist shot that went over Robert's shoulder and appeared to glance off the cross bar and quickly pop back out. The goal judge turned the light on but the official never signaled goal and play continued. At the next stoppage, the official consulted with the goal judge and ended up awarding the goal for Meneghin's 21st of the season.
"It was a tough moment but it happens," said NU head coach Mark Bolding on Plattsburgh's second goal. "It's disappointing for Celeste because she's a great gamer and I think that shot took some of her confidence away. We we're on the power play and you can't make mistakes against a good team like that or they'll make you pay and they did."
Plattsburgh carried the 2-0 lead into the first intermission with a 9-4 shot advantage over the Cadets.
The Cardinals didn't waste long extending their lead at the start of the second period with freshman forward Melissa Sheeran tallying her 17th goal of the season just 36 seconds into the period on a rebound off the wall after a blast from Parke at the point. Sheeran took advantage of the active boards behind the net as the puck kicked out quickly to the doorstep of the crease and she shoveled it past Robert to the near side to make it 3-0 Plattsburgh.
Plattsburgh made it 4-0 at the 7:32 mark of the second period with another goal on a 2-on-1 as Bridget Balisy roofed a shot just under the crossbar off a crossing pass by Lipson for her 19th goal of the season.
The fourth Cardinal goal prompted NU head coach Mark Bolding to use his timeout and pull Robert in favor of freshman goalie Laurie King (Waddington, N.Y.). Norwich regrouped after the timeout and the goalie switch and started to generate some offense.
Anderson finally got Norwich on the board at the 16:44 mark of the second period with a goal off a rebound in front of the net on a 5-on-3 power play. Junior Taylor Cross (Saugus, Mass.) took a shot from the blue line that kicked around through traffic in front of the net. Senior Vanessa Champagne (St. Nazaire, Quebec) got a swipe at the puck before Anderson poked it into the net to make it 4-1.
Anderson cut the deficit to 4-2 just 3:38 into the third period when she batted a puck out of mid-air off a great backhand pass from Sarah Schwenzfeier (Hingham, Mass.) to really give the Cadets life.
However, Plattsburgh buckled down defensively from there and dug its heels in without giving Norwich too many more scoring chances. The Cadets had one chance with Madyson Moore getting a stick on a redirection but Plattsburgh sophomore goalie Camille Leonard squeezing the pads to make the save.
Meneghin added the empty-netter to seal the win for her second of the night and 22nd of the season with 12 seconds left.
Leonard finished with 22 saves to improve to 19-2-0 on the year. Robert made 11 saves in 27:32 of action to fall to 12-3-1. King came on and stopped all nine shots she faced.
Plattsburgh outshot Norwich 25-24 and finished 1-for-3 on the power play, while Norwich was 1-for-6.
"We made it to the Frozen Four three times in four years," said NU captain Vanessa Champagne. "It's a tough way to go out for us seniors, but we're still proud to be Cadets and this is a great experience for all of our freshmen to have."
Plattsburgh extended its unbeaten streak against Norwich to eight straight games with the win and improved to 8-4-2 all-time against the Cadets. Plattsburgh and Norwich tied 1-1 on Nov. 2 this season at Kreitzberg Arena and then beat the Cadets 5-0 at Stafford on Jan. 20.
Plattsburgh also handed Norwich its first loss ever in the national semifinals as the Cadets were previously 4-0 in the semifinal round.
Norwich will play in the third-place game tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. against the Elmira/UW-River Falls loser.
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