JOHNSON, Vt. – Johnson State College saw freshman Randall Strand (Flanders, N.J./Roxbury) score the first of two goals in the games second minute to spark the Badgers to a season-opening win over visiting Norwich University on Thursday at Minaert Field. All four JSC goals were tallied by newcomers on the day who open the season 1-0, 0-0 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) and while the Cadets move to 0-1, 0-0 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC).
Sophomore Drew Steady (Milton, Vt./Milton) and freshman Faisal Hilowle (Portland, Maine/Portland) who add scores for Johnson with senior Ryan Demars (Morrisville, Vt./Peoples Academy) recording a pair of assists and freshman Richie Perez (Belmont, N.H./Belmont) one.
Norwich received a pair of goals from junior Garrett Shufelt (Clifton Park, N.Y./Columbia) with assists going to Ryan Robertson (Northfield, Vt./Northfield) and Wesley Keslin (Brossard, Que./Dawson College).
Strand's first goal came on a cross from Demars right to left from the near the goal line. Strand poked home the bounding pass from just outside the left post.
In the 26th minute Steady took a pretty pass from Perez by laying out and putting a head on the ball and beating NU keeper Alex Toomey (Anchorage, Alaska/South Anchorage) for the highlight play of the afternoon.
Shufelt would pull the Cadets with one just before halftime taking a pass from Robertson and knocking it past diving Johnson keeper Sam Martin (Essex, Vt./Essex) making the score 2-1 with just :12 left to play in the first half.
Strand's second goal came in the 57th minute with Demars picking up his second assist pushing the Badger lead to 3-1.
Norwich would continue to grind and would pull within one score as Schufelt took a feed from Keslin and shot past the new Badger keeper Ryan Belen (Northvale, N.J./Northern Valley) to make the scoreboard read 3-2 with 4:50 left in the match.
Hilowle would all but ice the game just over a minute later by flicking a right-footed shot from the top of the penalty box up and over the extended arms of Toomey accounting for the final score.
Martin would pick up the win for Johnson making four first half saves while Belen would play the second half and make six stops.
Toomey made a pair of stops in the loss as Norwich would hold a significant 25-10 advantage in shots on the day.
Johnson will move on to host Vermont Technical College on Saturday at 3:00 pm while Norwich heads to Rhode Island for pair of games in the Roger Williams Tournament this weekend. The Cadets will face Rhode Island College on Saturday at 2:30 pm and then will play Roger Williams University on Sunday at 1:30 pm.