NORTHFIELD, Vt.- After opening their campaign on the road, the Norwich Women's Ice Hockey team opened their Little East Conference (LEC) slate against an intrastate rival, Vermont State Castleton, on Friday afternoon, where the Cadets won emphatically on the back of five goals, all by different scorers.

From the outset, Norwich held a decided edge in territorial play, generating shots on Spartan netminder Gianna McCusker. After the Cadets tallied eight of the first nine shots, Castleton went to the power play, where they got their first crack at Madison Brunet (Timmins, Ont.). After answering the bell, Norwich went to their first man advantage soon thereafter.

McCusker held firm, but a minute and a half after the foul expired, the Cadets jumped ahead. Ellin Rees (Cardiff, Wales, U.K.) intercepted a clearing attempt in front of the Spartan bench and rushed back into the attacking zone down the right-wing side. She got to the faceoff dot and sent a wrist shot past McCusker's blocker to give Norwich the lead on her first collegiate goal, a lead that the maroon and gold took to the locker room along with a 15-2 shot advantage.

Both teams traded unsuccessful power plays to open the middle frame, but soon after the Cadets' penalty kill succeeded, they extended their lead. Marja Linzbichler (Graz, Austria) caused a turnover in the neutral zone and got the puck to Madison Anderson (Green Bay, Wis.), who rushed in on McCusker. Anderson's original attempt was stopped by Geena Cookinham (Gilmanton Iron Works, N.H.), stuffed in the rebound, making it a two-goal game.

As they kept putting on the pressure, Norwich found the back of the net once again with seven minutes left in the second period. Libby Lane (Northville, Mich.) won a puck battle along the left-wing half wall and sent it to the near point to Jordan Brady (Green Bay, Wis.). Brady found defensive partner Lauren Tuzik (Frankfort, Ill.), who sent a wrist shot from the right point off the crossbar and in to make it a three-goal lead.

Just before the final minute of the period, Norwich added one more with Maggie Hunter (Royal Oak, Mich.) taking the puck at the half wall before passing it off to Olivia Boyer (Saint Paul, Minn.), whose original shot was saved. Still, Breanna Ricker (Laconia, N.H.) cleaned up the loose change, making it a four-goal game after forty minutes.

The Cadets kept the pressure going in the third and added a fifth goal late. Ricker collected the Boyer faceoff win and handed it off to Livia Brooks (Walpole, Mass.), who brought the puck towards the goal from the right side before finding Alex Leslie (Irishtown, N.B.) in front for the fifth and final goal of the contest.

In the contest, Leslie, Cookinham, and Rees all tallied their first collegiate goals, while Hunter notched her first career point, and Brunet earned her eighth career shutout, while Head Coach Justin Simpson earned his first win as Head Coach.

"I thought we played a full 60 minutes and kept the pressure on all game long," said Simpson. "Everyone in the lineup contributed to our success today; we had contributions up and down our roster. A key emphasis of our coaching staff has been implementing a five-player offensive attack and encouraging our defense to jump into the rush and offensive zone when they see the opportunity. It was nice to see three of our goals come from defenders."

The Cadets will continue LEC play when they make their first-ever visit to Keene State on November 8 at 7:00 p.m.