Norwich tops rival Castleton | Sports

Particular groups play an essential position in hockey. If a staff performs that side of the sport successfully, its probabilities of successful go method up.

The secret in these conditions is making the most of the instances once you’re a skater up and minimizing harm once you’re not.

The Norwich College girls’s hockey did each of these issues in a 3-1 win towards rival Castleton College Friday evening at Spartan Area.

It was Mikah Baptiste’s purpose with 14:11 within the second interval that acquired the Cadets’ offense revving and essential penalty kill, a few of which two skaters down, late within the contest that have been shining lights for the way nicely Norwich performed in that side.

“We have been speaking concerning the energy performs and particular groups on the whole,” stated Cadets coach Sophie Leclerc Doherty. “It got here up huge on this sport with that purpose and the powerplay on the finish. That is simply specializing in us. It would not at all times should be fairly.”

Norwich had the higher of the assault for a lot of the primary interval, but it surely was Castleton getting on the board first with 1:06 to play within the opening interval.

It was a freshman connection getting the job completed. Meg Aiken, a 5-foot-5 ahead from Prince Edward Island in Canada, received the faceoff and acquired the puck to fellow newcomer Moa Carlsson, from Sweden.

Carlsson weaved by way of defenders to get to the far submit and put one previous Cadets goaltender Leocadia Clark for the sport’s opening salvo. It was Carlsson’s second purpose of the season.

When a coach brings in a brand new recruiting class, it is powerful to know what they honestly have till they see it in motion. Spartans third-year coach Tim McAuliffe needed to smile watching that play unfold.

“It is actually enjoyable to see a few of these younger gamers. You at all times suppose you do proper by your recruiting class, however you actually do not know till they’re right here,” McAuliffe stated.

“To see how a few of these younger gamers have been injected into the lineup and enjoying a variety of minutes and enjoying huge roles proper method, that is arduous. I am actually happy with this youthful group.

“It begins with the management of the upperclassmen. They introduced these gamers alongside and are nice mentors.”

Baptiste had been knocking on the door within the opening interval and her purpose within the early phases of the second interval to tie the sport gave Norwich the power it wanted to maintain pushing ahead.

The Cadets acquired the eventual game-winning purpose with 5:56 left within the second interval. Aimee Headland was in the correct spot on the far submit to bury a rebound off a shot by Melianne Reynolds. Reynolds and freshman defender Sihyun Kang picked up assists on the play.

Leclerc Doherty talked concerning the significance of creating Castleton goalie Kirsten DiCicco transfer in purpose to make her job tougher.

“(Kirsten DiCicco) is a rockstar and that was one thing we talked about instantly after the primary. We needed to get her transferring laterally as a result of she was seeing all the pieces,” Leclerc Doherty stated. “We needed to transfer the puck East to West.”

DiCicco was a driving drive in conserving Castleton afloat. Whereas not each Norwich shot was on body, the Spartans junior needed to give you essential stops that did not enable the Cadets to tug away.

By evening’s finish, the Lowell, Massachusetts native made 36 stops for CU.

Castleton had its share of viable scoring possibilities all through the evening, however Clark was as much as the duty, making 14 saves for Norwich.

The Spartans had one ultimate probability to even the rating when the Cadets have been known as for a physique checking penalty with 2:09 to play, successfully leaving them at the very least a skater down the remainder of the best way.

Castleton upped its skater edge to 2 when it took DiCicco out of web with lower than a minute on the clock, however the tying tally by no means got here.

Norwich iced the competition with an empty-net purpose by Molly Flanagan, her second purpose of the 12 months, with lower than a second to play.