WORCESTER, Mass. – Hitting the ice for the first time since its 44-game ECAC East regular season unbeaten streak was snapped in a 4-3 OT loss to Saint Anselm on Nov. 17, the Norwich University women's ice hockey team responded in a big way with a 4-1 win over Holy Cross on Sunday night at the Hart Center.

Juniors Tori Charron (Tecumseh, Ontario) and Renee Lortie (Cornwall, Ontario), along with freshmen Madison Gallagher (Kirkland, Quebec) and Taylor Cross (Saugus, Mass.) each scored a goal to lead the Cadets' offense on the day.

Sophomore goalie Loren Carrier (Chandler, Ariz.) also made 16 saves in the game to pick up her fifth victory of the season and improve to 5-1-2 on the year.

No. 4 nationally-ranked Norwich (6-1-2, 6-1-0 ECAC East) took advantage of two early Holy Cross (6-3-1, 4-3-1 ECAC East) penalties, scoring twice in a span of 31 seconds to take a 2-0 lead before the seven-minute mark of the opening stanza.

Charron opened the scoring at the 6:26 mark of the first period by slamming home her team-leading ninth goal of the season on a rebound that skirted right to her stick after Holy Cross goalie Krista Manzanares made the initial save.

Just moments later, Lortie scored her fourth goal of the season by poking home a rebound lying in the crease after Manzanares made an initial save on Brittany Sharman's (Ayer's Cliff, Quebec) shot from the point but couldn't control the rebound.

The second period proved to be the exact opposite of the first period with this time Norwich being whistled for a slew of penalties, allowing Holy Cross to build some momentum.

The Crusaders finally capitalized at the 8:36 mark of the period with an extra skater on the ice after Norwich had a delayed penalty. Rebecca O'Quinn walked out from the far side boards and beat Carrier short side with a wrist shot from the left faceoff dot to cut the Norwich lead to 2-1.

Norwich was able to hold the lead heading into the second intermission though, still maintaining a 24-10 shot advantage after 40 minutes.

After Carrier came up with a big glove save to rob Holy Cross' Chelsea Monahan off a 2-on-1, Norwich answered exactly one minute later to regain its two-goal lead again.

Gallagher tapped home a pass from junior forward Emily MacKinnon (Kirkland, Quebec) into a wide-open net to put the Cadets up 3-1 at the 3:45 mark of the third period.

Holy Cross wouldn't go away quietly though as the Crusaders continued to mount pressure with two more quality chances a few seconds apart with just over 12 minutes to play in the game. Monahan had a wrist shot blocked by Carrier's right shoulder and then Nicole Giannino was stuffed on a wraparound from behind the net.

Taylor Cross put the game away for good though with 9:19 to play when she blasted a slap shot from the high slot past Manzanares to cap the scoring and give NU a 4-1 lead.

Norwich outshot Holy Cross 32-17 and was 2-for-6 on the power play, while Holy Cross was 0-for-4.

The Cadets kept pace with Saint Anselm and Manhattanville at the top of the ECAC East standings with the victory. Saint Anselm and NU are tied with 12 points each with Norwich playing one less game. Manhattanville is third with 11 points and the Valiants have a game in hand on Norwich.

Norwich closes out the first semester schedule on Saturday, Dec. 8 when it travels to Bowdoin for its first-ever trip to Sid Watson Arena in Brunswick, Maine. Faceoff for the non-conference tilt is set for 4 p.m.

-CADETS-