Women's hockey hopes to repeat

For the first time in its short three-year history, the women's hockey team of Norwich University is undefeated. Going into Thanksgiving break with a record of 7-0, the Cadets faced two challenging tasks.

During the weekend of the 100 Years of Hockey celebration, which began on Dec. 4, the team was set to play two very talented teams, The College of the Holy Cross and Manhattanville College.

"Both of these games are huge games for us," said Mollie Fitzpatrick, 19, a sophomore nursing major from Falmouth, Maine. "We've never beaten Manhattanville and Holy Cross is always a tough team, so it'll be a good test for us."

Going into the weekend, Norwich was ranked in first place in its division, the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) East. In second and third places were Holy Cross and Manhattanville, respectively, according to uscho.com.

"Holy Cross and Manhattanville are right behind us. Holy Cross is undefeated and Manhattanville has one loss," said Melissa Rundlett, 20, a sophomore physical education major from Saco, Maine. "They're both power houses so they'll be big games to test our ability and our team."

"Holy Cross and Manhattanville are probably the two toughest teams in our division," said Brittane Michaud, 20, a junior business major from Lewiston, Maine. "Both have played very good teams this year and have beaten them."

"If we win it'll be awesome because that'll move us to 9-0," said Shannon McNulty, 23, a senior criminal justice major and co-captain from Dover, N.H. "If we lose I think it's just going to make us work that much harder. So either way I can see good coming from it."

But Manhattanville played well, scoring a dominating 7-0 victory over Norwich. And Norwich and Holy Cross tied, 2-2. As of press time, Norwich was in second place in its division.

Norwich's women's hockey team is ranked eighth nationally. It is the only team in its division to place among the top 10 in national rankings.

"I don't think being ranked eighth nationally fazes us; it's good, but I think we all feel like we can be better and do better," Rundlett said. "I think we try not to let it get to our heads or let it affect our play."

"I think we're proud because the seniors have been here since we started the varsity program," McNulty said, "so it means a lot because we helped build the program to where it is."

The Norwich team has a lot of depth this year. Twenty-one of the 24 skaters have contributed at least one point to the statistics, five of whom are among the top 15 leading scorers in the conference.

"There have been a lot of different goal scorers, which is good because it gives us a lot of depth and we're not relying on one person to score the goals," Fitzpatrick said. "We can rely on many people so it takes a lot of pressure off."

"I think it's helpful for our coach to know that he can throw different people out there and expect the same results and not have to focus on a few individuals to get the job done," Michaud said.

"We can't let our guard down," McNulty said. "We have to keep practicing hard and I think that's everyone's mentality on our team right now."