NORTHFIELD, Vt.- On the back of three second half goals, the Norwich Women's Soccer team opened their 2024 season with an authoritative 3-0 victory over intrastate foe Vermont State Johnson with newcomer Lily Briggs (Fair Haven, Vt.) and senior captain Lindsey Duggan (Belmont, N.H.) leading the charge.

Despite the Badgers tallying the first shot on target of the contest five minutes in, the Cadets held the territorial advantage early with five shot attempts in the first 20 minutes with the speed of Abby Bruce (Peru, N.Y.) becoming a factor. Bruce tallied two shot attempts with one on goal in the opening frame, along with several opportunities that misfired. Later in the half, Norwich earned the first corner of the game, which was sent in and nearly broke the ice off touches from Harleigh Cornellier (Tyngsboro, Mass.) and Celine Juneau (Chazy, N.Y.) that careened wide. The Cadets had several opportunities as the first half expired, but the game remained scoreless despite an 8-1 Norwich advantage in shot attempts.

After the Norwich bench had some words for the officiating to open the second half, drawing the lone yellow card of the game, the Cadet offense finally broke through on the scoreboard in the 69^th minute. After Norwich gathered the ball in the midfield, they sprung ahead on offense. Briggs sent a ball from the left sideline into the box for a waiting Bella Roy (Weare, N.H.). Roy's attempted header came to the right foot of Juneau who sent the ball to the bottom right corner while it was still airborne to put the Cadets ahead.

Smelling the opportunity, the maroon and gold would strike twice more in short order. In the 81^st minute, Duggan sent a corner kick into a mass of bodies in the box where it would ricochet off Carys O'Connor (Fremont, N.H.) to Harley Murphy (Guyton, Ga.) who sent the ball from her right foot to the top right corner to extend the Cadet lead to two.

Soon after, Norwich struck again. While already putting together a standout performance on the back end, Beatrice Lake (Brookfield, Vt.) sent the ball up field to Duggan who sent it left for Briggs. Briggs found open space and sent a shot along the turf to the bottom right corner for the Cadets' second goal in 1:06 to seal a 3-0 win, and the first win and shutout in Michaela Dubey's (Belchertown, Mass.) collegiate career to go along with first career points for Briggs, O'Connor and Lake in addition to Murphy's first goal in maroon and gold.

Norwich will return to the pitch in two days, when they travel to Vermont State Castleton on Sept. 1 for a 4 PM kickoff.