Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Junior forward Mikah Baptiste (Ottawa, Ontario) scored a hat trick to lead the Norwich University women's ice hockey team to a 9-2 win over seventh-seeded Johnson & Wales on Saturday afternoon at Kreitzberg Arena.
Norwich (19-7-0) advances to the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) Semifinals and will host No. 5 seed Castleton on Saturday, Feb. 26 at Kreitzberg Arena as the Cadets continue their quest for the fifth straight NEHC Tournament title and 11th overall.
Castleton beat UMass Boston 3-2 in overtime and No. 6 William Smith upset No. 3 Southern Maine 2-1 in overtime as well. William Smith faces No. 1 Elmira in the other semifinal.
Freshman Taylor Girouard (Burlington, Mass.) and junior Ann-Frederique Guay (St. Lambert-de-Lauzon, Quebec) each had a goal and two assists to round out the Cadets' offensive leaders on the day.
Norwich scored four times in the first period to take a commanding 4-0 lead into the first intermission.
Baptiste opened the scoring at the 10:29 mark off assists from Jillian Jackson (Fredericton, New Brunswick) and Neris Archambault (Pepperell, Mass.).
Aimee Headland (Nottingham, United Kingdom) scored at the 15:30 mark, slipping a puck into the open net off a pretty feed from Emma O'Neill (Hamburg, N.Y.) from the right point. Molly Flanagan (Lutz, Fla.) picked up the secondary assist.
Jackson scored her ninth goal of the season at the at the 16:45 mark, scoring on a breakaway off a textbook break out from Melianne Reynolds (Sherbrooke, Quebec) and Taylor Tom (Kenora, Ontario). Jackson deked to the right and then slipped the puck behind JWU goalie Anna Maulson on her forehand for the goal.
Ingrid Holstad-Berge made it 4-0 to cap the first period scoring when she intercepted a pass at the blue line and fired a shot past Maulson for her seventh goal of the season.
Baptiste added her second goal of the game on the power play with assists from Girouard and Julia Masotta (Tewksbury, Mass.) at the 2:50 mark of the second period.
Johnson & Wales got on the board at the 13:58 mark with Hailey Wiltshire scoring on a rebound in front of the net. Wiltshire flipped the puck in on her back hand after an initial shot from the blue line by Emma Fetch was blocked in front of the net. Logan Arseneau picked up the second assist.
Guay scored at the 18:34 mark of the second period off assists from Flanagan and Girouard for her 16th goal of the season.
Johnson & Wales added another goal to cut it to 6-2 at the 19:05 mark of the second period with Kaitlin Boyer scoring off an assist from Kaylin Garner. Garner won a battle behind the net and centered to Boyer alone in front of the crease who fired the puck past Alexa Berg (West Fargo, N.D.) for the goal.
Norwich added three more goals in the third period with Baptiste completing her hat trick, as well as O'Neill and Girouard scoring to cap it off. Berg made 18 saves to pick up her 11th win of the season.
Maulson made 49 saves in goal for JWU.
