Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Freshman Sydney Rocheville (Salem, Mass.) scored her first collegiate goal, but it wasn't enough as the Norwich University women's soccer team fell 4-1 to Johnson State in non-conference action on Tuesday night.
Senior Kylie Aither recorded a hat trick to lead Johnson State (2-0, 0-0 NAC) to its first win over Norwich since the 2013 season and just the sixth victory all-time in 30 games played.
Aither also tallied an assist for a seven-point night, while fellow senior Katherine Fish had a goal and two assists for four points.
Norwich (0-2, 0-0 GNAC) outshot Johnson State 42-13, but Johnson State sophomore goalkeeper Kaila Lemmer made 16 saves to preserve the Badger victory.
Johnson State took a 1-0 lead at the 12:36 mark with Aither scoring her first goal of the game with left-footed strike from 25 yards out that NU goalie Katie Bishop-Manning (New York, N.Y.) got a piece of with her glove, but couldn't quite punch it away as the ball bounced inside the right post. Kelsey Cauchon picked up the assist on the goal after playing it over to Aither on the left wing.
Johnson State held the 1-0 lead into the halftime break, despite being outshot 18-5.
Aither struck again in the 52nd minute with a 2-on-1 combination from Katherine Fish. Fish drew the NU center back to her and then dished it over to Aither on the left side of the 18-yard box and then Aither slipped it into the far side of the net to make it 2-0 Johnson State.
Johnson State took a 3-0 lead in the 65th minute with Fish scoring her first of the game and fourth of the season, hooking up with Aither for another 2-on-1 goal. Fish took a pass from the left side and fired a shot into the right bottom corner of the net from the middle of the top of the 18-yard box.
Norwich briefly cut into the deficit in the 73rd minute with Rocheville scoring her first collegiate goal off an assist from Zorya Webster (Corning, N.Y.). Webster played the ball over to Rocheville, who buried a shot into the bottom left corner of the net for her first collegiate goal.
Johnson State regained the three-goal lead though in the 84th minute with Aither scoring again off a pass from Fish.
Bishop-Manning made six saves to fall to 0-2 on the season for the Cadets.
Norwich nearly scored as time expired, but Ashley Carvalho's free-kick attempt just crossed the goal line a second after the buzzer sounded.
Norwich returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Rivier University at 5 p.m. in its Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) opener.
