Johnson Falls 4-2 to Norwich
Sophomore Ally Bataille (left) and freshman Jen Ferrari each recorded goals for Johnson on Wednesday in the Badgers 4-2 loss to Norwich
JOHNSON, Vt. (September 8, 2010) - Johnson State suffered a 4-2 non-conference women's soccer loss at home on Wednesday to Norwich University. The visiting Cadets saw junior Brittany Casey (Pointe-Claire, Que./Kent School) score all four goals to spark NU to the win. The Badgers fall to 0-2, 0-0 in the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) while Norwich moves to 2-1, 0-0 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC).
Play was even throughout the first 20 minutes with Norwich generating more shot opportunities than Johnson. It was a Johnson shot and a save by NU keeper Nicki Hunsicker (Emmaus, Penn./Emmaus) that led to the first Cadet score. Hunsicker booted the ball over midfield and Casey on a sprint got behind the Badger defense, carried the ball to the goal and beat Johnson's Amber McCullock (Morrisville, Vt./Peoples) high for the first score of the game in the 34th minute.
The score would remain 1-0 NU into the second half until Johnson sophomore Ally Bataille (Waterbury, Vt./Harwood) beat a Cadet defender to left end line and went over the top of new Norwich keeper Alecia Wright (Piffard, N.Y./York Central) for the nifty tying score in the 55th minute.
Casey was just getting starting though and in the 68th minute took a centering pass from Kacey Abbriano (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) and beat McCullock low to give Norwich the 2-1 lead. At the 78th minute Casey would loft a left-footed corner kick the curled perfectly off the finger tips of McCullock and into the goal to make the score 3-1 Norwich. Just six minutes later Casey notched her fourth score of the day with a long run up the left side of the field and going to the lower left corner at 83:12 to give the Cadets a commanding 4-1 lead.
Johnson would keep battling though and would come up with their second score of the day when Jen Ferrari (Westfield, Mass./Westfield) controlled a loose ball at the top of the 18 and placed it just under the crossbar at 86:28 to create the final 4-2 tally.
McCullock would make nine saves on the day for Johnson while Hunsicker and Wright each made one for Norwich.
Johnson will play in their first road match of the season on Saturday in their next contest at 12:30 when they play in Nashua, N.H. at Daniel Webster College. Norwich will at Albertus Magnus College, a GNAC contest, also on Saturday at 1:00 pm.