PLATTSBURGH, N.Y.- The fifteenth-ranked Norwich Women's Hockey team opened its 2025-26 campaign on Friday afternoon when it took a trip across Lake Champlain to take on regional rival seventh-ranked Plattsburgh State in the first game for Justin Simpson behind the bench.

Both teams showed opening-night jitters early on, as the Cadets generated zone time by getting on the Cardinals with their aggressive forecheck, forcing Plattsburgh State goaltender Chloe Lewis to come up with several early saves. Minutes later, the Cardinals beat out an icing call to establish themselves in the offensive end, but Norwich kept them to the outside. After Lewis turned away high-danger chances by Jordan Brady (Green Bay, Wis.) and Alex Leslie (Irishtown, N.B.), the Cardinals got their first clean shot on Madison Brunet (Timmins, Ont.) with seven minutes to play. The opening frame ended scoreless, with Norwich having higher quality chances despite a slight disadvantage in shots and on a power play that carried over.

The rest of the man advantage got killed off, leading to zone time for Plattsburgh. Soon after, Anna Lisac (Euclid, Ohio) had a chance on a breakaway that Lewis turned away, immediately on the counter rush, Brunet turned away a Cardinal break. On another break, Ellin Rees (Cardiff, Wales, U.K.) caused a neutral zone turnover leading to a Rylie McIntyre (Brunswick, Maine) chance that Lewis turned away. Lewis also shut down a shorthanded two-on-one for Lisac.

Minutes after the penalty was killed off, the Cardinals broke through on a Tessa Morris goal through several bodies.  Brunet kept it a one-goal game at the break with a big save on Emily Kasprzak as Norwich went to another carryover power play.

On the portion of the man advantage to start the third, Lewis turned aside chances by Dani Ammons (Centennial, Colo.) and Breanna Ricker (Laconia, N.H.) before Plattsburgh extended their lead to two with Kasprzak capitalizing on a neutral zone turnover. As the period wound down, both sides went to the penalty box several times before Morris sank the empty netter to secure the win for the Cardinals. Lisac led the way in the shot department, while Leslie blocked five shot attempts, and Brunet made 25 saves.

"We played well today and certainly pushed Plattsburgh as they did to us as well in a very back-and-forth match-up," Head Coach Justin Simpson said. "They were able to capitalize on a couple of our mistakes, leading to their two goals. Unfortunately, we had several good scoring chances but were unable to capitalize on them. I was pleased with our penalty kill, as it was a major focus for our staff heading into this matchup. It was excellent today, going 4/4. Our group will take this as a learning experience as we prepare for LEC league play starting this coming weekend." 

The Cadets will take home ice for the first time Friday night, when they welcome intrastate rival Vermont State Castleton to Kreitzberg Arena for the first-ever Little East Conference (LEC) contest on Nov. 7 at 4:00 p.m.