RUTLAND, Vt.- After a brief homestand, the Norwich Women's Ice Hockey team hit the road once again to take on intrastate rival Vermont State Castleton.

The Cadets held the edge early, taking the first seven shots on goal in the game. Eventually turned into 15 of the first 16 shots of the period, as Norwich put Spartan goaltender Victoria Bakopanos to the test. After a brief flurry for Castleton was squashed by Leocadia Clark (Stowe, Vt.), the Cadets would finally break through. Rylie McIntyre (Brunswick, Maine) sky hooked the puck to center ice creating a foot race, which was won by Melianne Reynolds (Sherbrooke, Que.) leading to a breakaway, where she put a move on Bakopanos and slid the puck home to open the scoring. The lead would remain heading into intermission with Norwich on the penalty kill.

After finishing the kill, the Cadets continued to have the Spartans on their heels with Bakopanos doing all she could to keep the game close. After Clark held the fort on the defensive end, Marja Linzbichler (Graz, Austria) and Livia Brooks (Walpole, Mass.) rushed the other way. Linzbichler's original shot was stopped by Bakopanos, but the rebound went over the net. Brooks recovered it and sent the puck back in front to Linzbichler who was wide open in front of the net and netted the second chance opportunity. Norwich continued to press the attack, but Bakopanos kept the Castleton deficit at two heading into second intermission.

After an unsuccessful Spartan powerplay to begin the third period, Lauren Tuzik (Frankfort, Ill.) cleared the zone to kill off the remaining seconds. Collecting the puck fresh off a line chance was Brooks, who deked the defender and roofed a wrist shot to extend the Cadet lead to three. Later in the period, Linzbichler would give the puck to Brooks, whose shot deflected off McIntyre and in for the fourth goal. Two minutes later, Taylor Girouard (Burlington, Mass.) kept the play alive, leading to a give-and-go between Olivia Boyer (Saint Paul, Minn.) and Jenna Nikles (Riley, Mich.) with Nikles scoring the fifth and final goal of the evening, where Clark would record her third shutout of the season.

"It was a great team win tonight," Head Coach Sophie Leclerc Doherty said. "Everybody competed as one, and it was fun to watch. We played fast, we connected and capitalized on the opportunities we created."

Up next, Norwich will continue their road trip when they visit Plymouth State Jan 27 at 2 PM.