Box Score Photo Caption: Brittany Casey scoring the game-winning goal
in Wednesday's match as Emmanuel's Emily Fallon defends. (Jennifer
Langille/Norwich University)
NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Junior forward
Brittany
Casey broke a 2-2 deadlock with 16 seconds left to
help the Norwich women's soccer team knock Emmanuel (Mass.) from
the ranks of the unbeaten with a 3-2 win at Howard Field in Great
Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action.
Casey (Pointe-Claire, Que.) had already had a big week after
being named GNAC and ECAC New England Player of the Week. But,
she came up big again on Wednesday and continued her torrid start
to the 2011 campaign by beating Emmanuel goalkeeper Jessica
D'Ottavio near post from the top of the penalty area for the
game-winning goal.
"Nikki (Szczepanski) did all the work," Casey said. "She pushed
the ball forward to me and I just saw the opportunity to shoot. I
knew there wasn't much time left and I really didn't want to go
into overtime so I just decided try a shot. I had been struggling
all game but thankfully that went in."
Norwich (3-0-1, 1-0-1 GNAC) remained unbeaten with the win and
now heads into another crucial showdown with defending GNAC
Tournament champion Lasell on Saturday in a rematch of last year's
conference championship game.
"Emmanuel is one of those teams you want to get up for and want
to beat especially since coming into this game they were
undefeated," Norwich head coach Beth Van Parys said. "We came out
hard and worked hard all game and it paid off when were able to get
that goal with 16 seconds left."
The clash of the two unbeatens lived up to the hype as Norwich
and Emmanuel were locked in a see-saw battle for the entire
game.
"We were all little nervous coming into this one because we knew
they were undefeated," Casey said. "We worked hard though and I'm
glad we won."
Sophomore forward Grace
Fitzpatrick got Norwich on the board first in the
14th minute when she one-timed a shot far post past
D'Ottavio off a through-ball feed from junior midfielder Lisa
Esparza.
Emmanuel (4-1-0, 1-1-0 GNAC) answered back 2:01 later when
Lindsey Garvey headed home a loose ball in the box with an assist
from Meghan Zerba.
The Cadets regained the lead in the 57th minute when
junior midfielder Bianca
Bogda headed home a corner kick from Casey opposite
post and past D'Ottavio to make it 2-1.
The Saints wouldn't go down easy though as they responded again
with an unassisted goal in the 75th minute from Brittany
Ridge. Ridge beat Norwich goalkeeper Meghan
Kennedy after Kennedy was forced to come off her line
and challenge Ridge at the top of the penalty area. Ridge flipped
the ball over Kennedy's head as she came out to knot the game back
up at two.
Kennedy made her first start of the season after sophomore
goalkeeper Liz
Chapdelaine was unable to go due to an injury. Kennedy
stepped up in a big way, turning aside nine shots to pick up the
win. D'Ottavio made 10 saves for Emmanuel and was saddled with her
first loss of the season.
Norwich outshot Emmanuel 23-16 and now holds a 9-8 lead in the
all-time series between the two schools.
For all the latest Norwich
Athletics news go to www.norwichathletics.com, become a fan on
facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/NUCadets,
visit our YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/madkins11100,
or follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NorwichCadets
-CADETS-
