NORTHFIELD, Vt.- After three straight road games, the Norwich Women's Ice Hockey team returned to home ice to take on Plymouth State who came in undefeated in conference play.

Looking to defend home ice, the Cadets put their foot on the gas early outshooting the Panthers 4-0 within the first four minutes, leading to an early powerplay. After Plymouth State killed that off, they were caught in their defensive end where two glorious Norwich chances went wide of the net. The Panthers got their first shot of the game nine minutes in, while the Cadets had eight at that point.

The Norwich offensive onslaught only continued, eventually leading to the first goal of the game. With five and a half minutes remaining, Olivia Boyer (Saint Paul, Minn.) won an offensive zone faceoff which immediately came to Aimee Headland (Nottingham, U.K.) whose shot ricocheted off the shoulder of Panther goaltender Amelia Julian, went up in the air behind her and into the back of the net. Fifty-eight seconds later, a Plymouth State neutral zone turnover was taken by Lauren Tuzik (Frankfort, Ill.). Tuzik found a streaking Livia Brooks (Walpole, Mass.) who knifed through the Panther defense, and took the puck behind the net for the tap in goal for Taylor Girouard (Burlington, Mass.) doubling the Cadet lead going into intermission with Norwich holding a 17-2 shot advantage.

Norwich picked up right where they left off in the second period, continuing the shot barrage. Around the six and a half minutes into the frame, Brooks collected a turnover at her defensive blueline and immediately rushed on goal. She would pass it off to Girouard, who was originally stopped by Julian, but Madison Anderson (Green Bay, Wis.) cleaned up the rebound to push the Cadet lead to three. The Panthers would get their first sustained offense of the game when awarded back-to-back powerplays, but Leocadia Clark (Stowe, Vt.) answered the bell when called upon and keeping Plymouth State off the scoreboard after 40 minutes.

The relentless Cadet attack continued into the third period, where early on they pushed their lead to four. Three and a half minutes in, Sihyun Kang (Paju-Si, Korea) put a wrist shot on goal that was kicked away, the second chance by Boyer was also stopped, but in the chaos, Headland buried it for her second of the game. With nine minutes remaining, it became a 5-0 game when Emma Morel (Tournon, France) sent the puck to Brooks in the neutral zone before heading off for the chance. Brooks's puck handling skills mesmerized the Panther defense, giving daylight to Marja Linzbichler (Graz, Austria) for her second of the season and Brooks's third assist of the evening. With three minutes left, a tic-tac-toe play starting with Melianne Reynolds (Sherbrooke, Que.) and ending with Boyer sending the puck cross ice to Headland made it 6-0 earning Headland her first collegiate hat trick, and a three-assist night for Boyer on top of the first shutout of the campaign for Clark.

"We had great scoring depth and felt like every line contributed," Head Coach Sophie Leclerc Doherty said. "We were very unselfish, and it was a great team win."

Norwich will play one more game before the Thanksgiving holiday when they play host to in state rival Castleton on Nov 18 at 3 PM.