NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University women's hockey team opened up its 2013-14 season with a 6-0 loss to Plattsburgh State on Saturday afternoon at Kreitzberg Arena in the fourth annual East/West Hockey Classic.

Sophomore forward Bridget Balisy scored two goals and added an assist to lead Plattsburgh (1-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC West) to the victory. Junior forward Emma Rutherford also had a goal and an assist, while senior forward Jordan Caldwell had two assists for the Cardinals.

After a relatively even opening 10 minutes, Plattsburgh struck twice less than a minute apart with junior Morgan MacInnis scoring on a scrum in front of the net and Balisy notching her first of the night off a rebound on a deflected shot from the point from Caldwell and Allison Era.

The Cardinals increased their lead to 3-0 with an unassisted goal by Rutherford at the 6:39 mark of the second period.

Norwich had its best two opportunities of the game to score midway through the second but Aveson stood tall making two point blank saves on senior defenseman Brittany Sharman (Ayer's Cliff, Quebec) and sophomore forward Rachel Bellio (Denver, Colo.). Aveson made the initial save on Sharman and then she stuffed Bellio on the rebound attempt to keep the Cadets off the board.

Plattsburgh broke the game wide open in the later stages of the second, pouring three more goals in before the second intermission to take a commanding 6-0 lead.

Senior Ali Vakos scored from the edge of the right faceoff circle by the half boards off an assist from Giovanna Senese to make it 4-0. Kistner scored top shelf on a backhand all alone in front off a great feed from Balisy at the 16:06 mark. Balisy capped the scoring by beating Carrier five-hole off a pass from Jordan Caldwell on the left wing.

Norwich junior goalie Loren Carrier (Chandler, Ariz.) made 19 saves for the Cadets in the loss. Plattsburgh senior goalie Sydney Aveson made 18 saves to pick up the shutout for the Cardinals.

Plattsburgh stretched its unbeaten streak against Norwich to three straight after the Cardinals beat NU 4-2 last season in Plattsburgh and salvaged a 2-2 tie in last year's East/West Hockey Classic. The Cardinals also shutout Norwich for the first time since Dec. 6, 2009 when Manhattanville beat NU 7-0.

Plattsburgh faces Manhattanville on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m., while Norwich will look to rebound when it takes on the defending national champions Elmira at 4 p.m. in the East/West Classic finale.

 -CADETS-