JOHNSON, Vt. – Norwich University scored all three of their goals in the second-half to hold off Johnson State College 3-2 in a season-opening women's soccer match on Thursday at Minaert Field. After a scoreless first half for both teams, NU surged to a 3-1 lead and held off a feisty Badger side to move to 1-0, 0-0 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) while JSC drops to 0-1, 0-0 North Atlantic Conference (NAC).
The Cadets saw Baylie Lamarre (Tyngsboro, Mass./Lawrence Academy), Grace Fitzpatrick (Falmouth, Maine/Cheverus), and Bianca Brogda (Cranston, R.I./St. Mary Academy) each score goals in the win with Caitlyn Trepess (Scotia, N.Y./Scotia-Glenville) and Brittany Casey (Pointe-Claire, Que./Kent School) notching assists.
Sophomore Jen Ferrari (Westfield, Mass./Westfield) and junior Ally Bataille (Waterbury, Vt./Harwood) accounting for the Badgers scores on the day with Chelsea Hostetter (Morrisville, Vt./Peoples Academy) recording an assist.
NU's Liz Chapdelaine (Somerset, Mass./Somerset) picked up the win making seven saves while Johnson's Amber McCullock (Morrisville, Vt./Peoples Academy) took the loss despite stopping 15 shots.
Lamarre scored the game's first goal in the 47th minute collected a loose ball from a cluster of bodies in the front of the net and poking it past McCullock for a 1-0 Norwich lead.
Ferrari would tie the match 1-1 blasting a left-footed shot high and off the hands of Chapdelaine and over for the goal in the game's 66th minute.
Fitzpatrick would answer quickly taking a nice pass from Trepess after a run up the middle of the pitch and beat McCullock to the corner just :45 seconds later to regain a lead the Cadets would not relinquish.
The Cadets looked like they might coast to a win after Casey sent a corner kick in front of the net where Brogda redirected the ball with a header for a pretty score and a 3-1 NU lead.
Johnson would dig down and find a score in the 78th minute in a 4-3 run that saw the ball change fields with Hostetter finding Bataille on the left side for goal to the lower left corner past a diving Chapdalaine and wrapping up the day's scoring.
The Badgers will host Vermont Technical College on Saturday at 1:00 pm in their next contest while Norwich moves on to play Colby-Sawyer College in their home-opener on Wednesday at 4:00 pm.