NORTHFIELD, Vt. — The Cadets of Norwich University are champions after defeating the Elmira Soaring Eagles 2-1 in Kreitzberg Arena Saturday in the NCAA Division III women’s ice hockey national championship game.
Norwich earned the second national title in program history with a goal by sophomore Sophie McGovern 93 seconds before the end of regulation.
“Congrats to Norwich,” Elmira head coach Tim Crowley said. “They have one of the best coaching staffs in the nation and I have a lot of respect for them.”
The game was a back-and-forth affair, with shots on goal favoring the Cadets 28-24.
While the first period ended goalless, a shorthanded breakaway opportunity for sophomore Amanda Conway nearly put Norwich ahead 1:50 after the opening faceoff. Elmira’s senior goaltender Kelcey Crawford made the save to set the tone for the game.
“I knew I shouldn’t have gone five-hole, but I did it anyway,” Conway said. “I can’t blame anybody but myself. You’ve just got to shake it off and move on to the next play.”
The play was indicative of a game in which both goaltenders made key saves to keep their team in contention. For head coach, this meant that the task was harder.
“How do you beat her?” Bolding said. “You have to have the perfect shots, and we had two of them.”
The Cadets were surprised with the way Elmira matched their pace in the game, after the Soaring Eagles played nearly two complete overtimes one day earlier.
“I cannot believe how much energy they had on day two after that marathon,” Bolding said.
Norwich opened the scoring at 11:58 of the second period with another breakaway for Conway. An Elmira shot was saved by senior goaltender Laurie King before Norwich’s Robyn Foley picked up the long rebound and sent a pass up the ice to Conway.
“I just tried to shoot high, because coaches keep yelling to shoot high,” Conway said.
Despite giving up the goal, Elmira kept playing hard to get the game back.
“I saw heart from a lot of girls,” Crawford said.
The Soaring Eagles answered with a shorthanded goal by senior Sarah Hughson at 16:02 of the second period.
“I just dumped the puck, and I saw the opportunity so I shot it,” Hughson said. “It just went in.”
The third period continued the back-and-forth flow of the game, with the teams exchanging offensive opportunities. An Elmira two-on-one four minutes into the period was broken up by King, one minute before Norwich failed to capitalize as Crawford lost sight of the puck bouncing in the crease after Conway hit the post.
The tipping point came with 2:13 remaining, as Elmira junior Shannon Strawinski was called for roughing after a play behind the Norwich net. Bolding immediately called a timeout to settle his team’s nerves, as it was the first power play for the Cadets since the shorthanded goal.
McGovern scored on the ensuing power play, giving Norwich the 2-1 lead at 18:27 of the third period.
“Conway took it up wide, and she gave me a nice pass back, and I just shot it short-side high,” McGovern said.
An empty-net goal with 13 seconds left on the clock appeared to seal victory for the Cadets, but a video review resulted in the goal being disallowed as the play was deemed offsides. Norwich, who had been celebrating at their bench after the puck went in the net, had to regain composure and finish off the game.
“You just can’t let your guard down, Bolding said. “So we had to win a battle. The puck ends up on Carly’s [Menges] stick and she sort of stuffs it back deep.”
Bolding was happy with how his team handled the situation.
“It was 13 seconds of fun,” Bolding said. “To watch these guys be happy and then have to calm down, it’s kind of good for them.”
After holding on for the win at home, the Cadets are now champions. Bolding highlighted that this is a moment these players will never forget.
“They are a special group, and this will be memorable,” Bolding said. “They’ll have tough moments moving forward, and awesome moments, and I know this one will be special for them.”
