Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Senior forwards Amanda Conway (Methuen, Mass.) and Sophie McGovern (Hermantown, Minn.) each scored two goals and had an assist to lead the Norwich University women's ice hockey team to a 6-1 victory over Southern Maine on Sunday afternoon at Kreitzberg Arena.
The dynamic duo connected just 27 seconds into the game with Conway threading a pass to McGovern in the middle of the slot and she tapped it into the far side of the net to give the Cadets (17-4-2, 14-0-0 NEHC) a 1-0 lead that they would never look back from.
Junior defenseman Samantha Benoit (Bow, N.H.) added another goal late in the first period with a shot from the middle of the slot that found the back of the net off assists from Kelley Madden (Novelty, Ohio) and Brynn Wopperer (Amherst, N.Y.). Madden fed Benoit the puck from behind the net and then Benoit did the rest for her fourth goal of the season.
Conway scored Norwich's first of three power-play goals in the game at the 4:32 mark of the second period off an assist from Mikah Baptiste (Ottawa, Ontario).
Southern Maine (10-12-2, 8-7-0 NEHC) got a goal back to cut the deficit to 3-1 at the 5:36 mark of the middle frame as Vermont-native and former Northfield High School standout Brianna Doty shoveled home a loose rebound in the crease for her third goal of the season. Katie Nolan took a pass in the neutral zone from Grace Simmons, skated over the blue line and then fired a high slap shot off the shoulder of NU goalie Emily Lambert (Riverview, Mich.). The rebound deflected up and over her shoulder and then puck just sat in the crease until Doty crashed the net and put it home before Lambert could find it.
McGovern scored her second of the game and her 15th of the season on the power play at the 9:06 mark off assists from Ingrid Holstad-Berge (Stavanger, Norway) and Benoit.
Conway added her second tally of the game and 24th goal of the season at the 18:15 mark of the second period after she took a pass in her own zone from Julia Masotta (Tewksbury, Mass.) and used her speed to skate past a couple of USM players before bearing down in on the goal and beating Whitney Padgett.
Conway's second goal capped her three-point night and brought her career total to 174 points, just one shy of the Norwich all-time record, held by Julie Fortier '12 with 175.
Freshman forward Ann-Frederique Guay (St. Lambert-de-Lauzon, Quebec) finished off the scoring with her 10th goal of the season on the power play off assists from Holstad-Berge and McGovern. Guay sniped the top left corner of the net from the corner boards to make it 6-1 Norwich.
Lambert made 16 saves in goal to improve to 6-1-0 on the season.
Padgett made 14 saves before being pulled for Hannah Aveni in the third period. Aveni made 18 saves in relief.
Norwich extended its unbeaten streak to eight-straight games with the victory and also improved its NEHC unbeaten streak to 48 straight games. The Cadets will have the chance to finish out their third-straight unbeaten regular season next weekend when they host UMass Boston at 4 p.m. on Friday and then Johnson & Wales on Saturday at 1 p.m.
