PLATTSBURGH — The Plattsburgh State women's hockey team gave defending Division III national champion Norwich University all it wanted back on Dec. 7 in Northfield, Vt. before losing in overtime.

The Cardinals get another shot at the No. 2-ranked Cadets at 7 p.m. tonight at the Stafford Ice Arena in nonconference action.

It will be the final home regular season game for No. 5-ranked Plattsburgh State, which is 15-4-2 overall and 13-1-2 in ECAC West play. Norwich comes to town 18-2-1 overall and 15-0-1 in ECAC East contests.

"It's important to take care of our league games and we did this past weekend," Plattsburgh State coach Kevin Houle said. "Now, our focus is on Norwich.

"It's a big game for us and could be important in the NCAA picture at the end of the year. We want to continue to play the way we have been of late."

In the first meeting of the season between the two teams, the Cardinals held a 2-1 lead in the third period. The Cadets, however, forced overtime and Kaycie Anderson's goal with 2:27 gone in the extra session won it for Norwich.

The Cadets held a 33-11 advantage in shots on goal, but some of that can be attributed to Plattsburgh State being whistled for seven penalties and Norwich just one.

"We had the lead and it was a game we had a chance to win," Houle said. "But they had us on our heels a little. We feel we still have something to prove."

And while it's an important out-of-conference game for both teams, Houle doesn't want his players to think it's too big.

"We need to be prepared and play our style of hockey," he said. "That said, I don't want our girls to feel it's such a big game that they get tight out there."

The Cadets, who trail only RIT in the Division III poll, aren't getting tested very often in their ECAC East games.

Norwich was on the road last weekend for a 7-3 victory over Southern Maine and a 14-0 rout at Plymouth State. The Cadets have won their last four games following a 2-0 loss at Amherst College on Jan. 24.

Norwich has four players with 30 points or more and eight with 24 or more. The two top guns are senior forward Julie Fortier (23-16-39) and freshman forward Anderson (17-19-36). The Cadets have scored 133 goals in 23 games and have allowed just 18. The three goals the Cadets allowed against Southern Maine were the most they have surrendered in a game this season.

The loss at Norwich put Plattsburgh State's overall record at 7-3-1. Since then, however, the Cardinals have gone 8-1-1 including a combined 2-1-1 record in ECAC West games against RIT and Elmira.

"Those games with RIT and Elmira were high-intensity games," Houle said. "They helped prepare us to play a team like Norwich."

Since the return from the break, the Cardinals have outscored their opponents by a 38-8 margin, with four of those 10 games played against teams ranked in the top 3 in Division III. No team has scored more than two goals in a game against Plattsburgh State during that time.

Plattsburgh State tuned up for tonight's game with a 3-1 and 10-0 sweep of Cortland State this past weekend at the Stafford Ice Arena where the Cardinals took a combined 118 shots in the two games.

The contest will also feature the Gove sisters with Teal, a junior forward, the leading scorer for the Cardinals with 13 goals, 16 assists and 29 points and Tyne, a freshman forward, one of the leading scorers for the Cadets with 12 goals, 12 assists and 24 points.

Tonight will be "Stuff Stafford for Camp Ta-Kum-Ta" night, with all proceeds benefiting the summer camp for children with cancer. All fans attending the game will be eligible to win prizes and there will also be a raffle for additional prizes.

After tonight, the Cardinals have three regular season games remaining on the road before taking part in the ECAC West Tournament. Plattsburgh State finishes ECAC West play at 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at Utica College. The following weekend, the Cardinals have a 4 p.m. nonconference game at Middlebury College to close out the regular season.