KEENE, N.H. – Despite 68 saves in net by Ai Chung, the Owls' attack was unable to keep up with Norwich University as the Keene State College women's ice hockey team dropped their home opener of the 2025-2026 season to the Cadets.

Records

• Keene State: 3-1 (1-1 LEC)
• Norwich: 2-1 (2-0 LEC)

How it Happened


Norwich was on the attack early on, but after Chung saved the first two shots from the Cadets, Breanna Ricker scored her first of three eventual goals for Norwich, only 48 seconds into the contest. Following three more saves by Chung, KSC had their first power play opportunity of the day 6:06 into the contest. Following a shot attempt from each Ellie Patrick and Ava Iantosca, the puck became loose to Brianna Finke for the goal as she scored her third of the year, just six seconds into the power play to tie the contest up at one apiece for the Owls. Over the next six minutes the Cadets continued to apply the pressure on the Owls, but Chung held strong and made 11 more saves to keep the contest tied. Offsetting penalties with eight minutes remaining in the first period sent the game to 4-on-4 but following the Owls' shot saved on goal by Payton Sutherland, Chung made three more saves of her own as the penalties were killed off. Norwich continued the pressure the rest of the opening period, but the Owls' defense held strong as there were four shots blocked by the defense and Chung made six more saves to send it into the first intermission tied at one.
 
Chung made four saves to open the second period, but Norwich found the back of net on a goal from Livia Brooks 3:52 into the period to retake the lead. Both goaltenders made three more saves over the next 3:09 of play. The Cadets capitalized on another power play soon after, only 21 seconds into the skater advantage as Geena Cookinham scored to put NU up by a pair with 12:15 remaining in the second period. 17 seconds later the Owls got called for another penalty and it took NU only 21 seconds yet again to capitalize on Ricker's second goal of the day to go ahead by three. KSC had an extra skater opportunity of their own a few minutes later but their only two shots over the two-minute span were blocked by the Cadets as they killed the penalty off. With four minutes remaining in the second, NU had a 4-on-3 advantage for another 54 seconds, followed by a 5-on-3 advantage for 21 seconds after. Chung saved the three shots on target over the two-minute span, to go with four shots blocked by the Owls' defense. Chung made six more saves in the final two minutes as the Cadets took a 4-1 lead into the final period of action.
 
Chung continued to hold her ground in the third period by making 11 saves over the opening 7:21 of the period, while Sutherland only faced a pair of shots, that she saved over the same time span. After Chung made a pair of saves over a two-minute 4-on-4 span, and soon after the Owls had a skater advantage, but they were not the ones to find the back of the net. Ellin Rees forced a turnover on the Owls' defensive half, leading to a shorthanded goal just over halfway through the period. After Chung saved her next five shots, but NU capitalized on a power play for the third time on the day on Ricker's hat trick goal with 2:45 left to play. Neither team found the back of the next the rest of the way as NU came away with the 6-1 victory.
 
Inside the Crease

• Chung made her program-record 68 saves on the day bring her total over the two days of back-to-back action to 103 saves.
• Finke tallied her third goal of the season while Iantosca and Patrick both tallied their third goals on the day for KSC.
• KSC was dominated on faceoffs, going 27-for-75 (36%), despite Iantosca going 12-for-13 (52%).
• Patrick led the Owls by recording five blocked shots, one more than the entire Cadet team, while Kenzley Goode was close behind with four for KSC in part of the team's total of 23 blocked shots.
• Norwich capitalized on their power play opportunities, going 3-for-5 (60%), while KSC went 1-for-5 (20%) on the extra-skater opportunities.

 
Up Next
 
Keene State hits the road for their next contest as they travel to take on New England College on Friday, November 14, at 4:00 PM.
Norwich returns to action on Saturday, November 15, at 3:00 PM as the Cadets host New England College.