In a battle of two of the top six teams in the nation, fourth-ranked Norwich picked up a 5-3 win over sixth-ranked Middlebury in Kenyon Arena. The Panthers (15-6-2) will wrap up their regular season this Saturday at Elmira, while the Cadets (18-2-3) will host Manhattanville on Friday.
Norwich opened the scoring just 2:51 into the game with the 25th of the season from Tori Charron. The Panthers tied the game at the 6:23 mark when Hannah Bielawski netted her eighth of the year with assists from Katie Sullivan and Madeline Joyce. Middlebury took its first lead of the game midway through the first period when Sara Ugalde earned her fourth of the year at 10:11.
Norwich scored twice in the second period to take a 3-2 advantage. Jillayne DeBus netted her 12th at the 9:02 mark, before Haley Gibson found the back of the net at the 14:30 mark, her second of the year.
The Cadets gained a little breathing room 7:47 into the third when Kayla Parson scored unassisted to make it a 4-2 game. Middlebury would not go away as Madeline Joyce struck on the power play from Heather Marrison at 10:09 to make it a one-goal game at 4-3. Norwich regained its two-goal lead with 3:55 to play when Charron struck again, earning her 26th goal of the year.
Middlebury held a 30-21 shots advantage in the game, going 1-6 on the power play. Laura Pinsent made 16 saves in goal for the Panthers while Loren Carrier made 27 stops for the Cadets.
Box Score
