MIDDLEBURY, Vt.- In their final road contest of the regular season, the tenth ranked Norwich Women's Ice Hockey team journeyed through the green mountains to visit seventh ranked Middlebury.

Within the first couple of minutes, the Cadets held the early edge putting Panther netminder Sophia Will to the test. After that early Norwich flurry was weathered, Middlebury began to press the attack with Leocadia Clark (Stowe, Vt.) making four stops in a twenty second span.

The pressure by the Panthers would lead to the first powerplay of the game. Early in the man advantage, Aimee Headland (Nottingham, U.K.) pressed the puck carrier at the blueline, poked it loose and used her foot speed to generate a breakaway. Headland's beat Will to her glove side to break the ice six minutes in. For the rest of the powerplay, and soon after, Middlebury pressed for the tie, but Clark was equal to the task.

A little more than midway through the period, after Clark stopped another Panther chance, Melianne Reynolds (Sherbrooke Que.) gathered the puck in the defensive zone from Lauren Tuzik (Frankfort, Ill.) and sent the puck into the neutral zone as a stretch pass. The puck evaded the Panther defender in the neutral zone and found Taylor Girouard (Burlington, Mass.) for another breakaway goal to extend the Cadet lead despite Middlebury holding a decided territorial advantage. The deficit did not deter Middlebury, as their decided advantage eventually led to the Panthers cutting Norwich's lead in half before the intermission where they held a 19-5 shot advantage.

Early in the second period, Norwich had their first chance on the powerplay as they looked to extend their lead, which was killed off. After that, both sides exchanged chances for a several. Eventually, the Panthers would keep Norwich pinned in their defensive zone for minutes at a time, but Clark and the rest of the Cadets would maintain the one goal advantage after two.

Sensing the urgency, and looking to avoid their third straight defeat, Middlebury continued to push the attack, but to no avail. On Norwich's second shot of the period, 10:45 in, they extended their lead. Off a defensive zone turnover by the Panthers, Reynolds won a foot race to the right corner, and gave the puck to Olivia Boyer (Saint Paul, Minn.) behind the goal line, who centered it for Headland for her second goal of the night. Middlebury kept applying pressure afterwards, but Clark shut the door, and was greatly aided by the 27 blocked shots in front of her.

With two minutes to play, Will would be summoned to the bench for the extra attacker. With the net empty on a break, Headland would seal the deal completing the hat trick for a 4-1 victory with Clark making 42 saves in Norwich's first win over Middlebury since the 2017 NCAA Tournament.

"We fought hard for each other tonight," Head Coach Sophie Leclerc Doherty said. "Each shift we found a way to be gritty which compounded, followed by executing the chances we created. The bench energy was incredible, with everyone engaged and ready to compete. Leo was a rockstar in net. She led the way tonight as she's done all year."

Up next, the Cadets will round out their regular season on home ice, starting with Salem State on Feb 9 at 6 PM.