NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University women's ice hockey team opened 2022 with a 3-2 overtime win over William Smith on Friday night at Kreitzberg Arena. 

Senior defenseman Morgan Tefft (Redwood City, Calif.) scored the game-winning goal 20 seconds into overtime with a diving deflection off a pass from Julia Masotta (Tewksbury, Mass.) to lift the Cadets to the dramatic victory and extend their New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) unbeaten streak to 57 straight games. 

Tefft scored her second goal of the game and third of the season with her overtime game-winner to clinch the two points in the NEHC standings and setup a showdown with No. 4-ranked Elmira College on Saturday at 3 p.m. 

Masotta carried the puck over the William Smith blue line and drew a defender to her. She fired a centering pass to a streaking Tefft who got a step on her defender and then dove at full extension to deflect the puck into the bottom right corner of the net and past Erin Murray. 

Tefft also scored Norwich's (8-3-0, 7-0-0 NEHC) first goal of the game at the 2:59 mark of the first period capitalizing on a rebound off an initial save on Mikah Baptiste's (Ottawa, Ontario) shot. Masotta picked up the assist on the goal after centering the puck to Baptiste. 

William Smith's Mackenzie O'Neil tied the game up at 1-1 at the 11:48 mark of the first period with a low-angle shot from the right corner boards that deflected off Norwich goalie Leocadia Clark's (Stowe, Vt.) skate and into the back of the net. Emily Martino picked up the assist. 

Norwich took a 2-1 lead at the 14:11 mark of the second period when Baptiste was awarded a penalty shot and scored short side on Murray to the left to give the Cadets their second lead of the game. 

William Smith tied the game again at 2-2 at the 7:17 mark with Lauren Legler scoring on a deflection off an O'Neil shot. O'Neil stripped the puck away from a Norwich defender on a break out to setup the chance as she ripped a shot on net that deflected off Legler for the goal. 

Norwich outshot William Smith 36-22 for the game. Clark made 20 saves in goal to improve to 4-0-0 on the season. Murray fell to 1-5 on the season after making 33 saves.