HORSEHEADS, N.Y.- The Norwich Women's Ice Hockey team opened the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) portion of their schedule with the first game of a two-game series inside the domes of Elmira College Friday night.

After a defensive turnover at Elmira's attacking blueline, the Soaring Eagles would jump ahead on their first shot of the game a minute and a half in. Several minutes later, the game was brought to halt with the Murray Athletic Center losing power for about a half hour before the game resumed. Once the power returned and the game restarted, the Cadets went to the powerplay where they got their first crack at goaltender Emily Finach. The two ranked opponents traded waves of possession and man advantages, but the score remained the same at first intermission with Leocadia Clark (Stowe, Vt.) making eleven stops in the frame.

The parade to the penalty box continued into the second period, as it took until the halfway point of the period to have an elongated time at even strength. In the waning minutes, the Soaring Eagles would go to the penalty box for the third time in the game. Seconds after the infraction expired, Norwich would find the back of the net. Rylie McIntyre (Brunswick, Maine) gained the zone and worked her way into the far corner. After a board battle, she got the puck back from Taylor Girouard (Burlington, Mass.) before sending it to Madison Anderson (Green Bay, Wis.). Anderson moved towards the middle and put a shot over Finach's shoulder to even the score heading into the break.

Early in the third, Norwich would return to the powerplay as they looked to take the lead with Finach coming up with three stops. Just passed the midway point, Elmira regained the lead. After Erika Goleniak's original chance misfired, she came back to the net front and jammed home the tiebreaker. Alayna Toole added an empty netter to make it a 3-1 win for the Soaring Eagles.

The fourteenth ranked Cadets, and the seventh ranked Soaring Eagles will do battle once again Saturday afternoon Nov. 9 at 4 PM.