RUTLAND, Vt. – The Norwich University women's ice hockey team wrapped up its fifth straight Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East regular season title on Friday night with a 5-2 win over Castleton State at Spartan Arena.

Freshman forward Erin Joyce (Manchester, N.H.) and junior defenseman Taylor Cross (Saugus, Mass.) each scored a goal and tallied two assists to lead the fourth-ranked Cadets to the victory.

Despite falling behind 1-0 early and being outshot 28-23, Norwich (17-4-3, 14-0-2 ECAC East) overcame the upset-minded Spartans (11-11-2, 6-8-2 ECAC East) to secure the season sweep over its intrastate rivals.

Norwich extended its conference unbeaten streak to 32 straight games with the victory and clinched the No. 1 seed for the ECAC East Tournament, which begins next Saturday, Feb. 28.

Castleton wasted little time to grab the lead first, as Tori Pizzuto scored her third goal in the past three games and sixth of the season just 3:17 into the opening frame. On a power play opportunity, Hannah Wright sent a pass across the crease that found Pizzuto at the near post, and the senior forward slotted it home, giving Castleton a one-goal advantage.

The Cadets continued to battle, and at the 12:08 mark in the first, Cross capitalized on a power play opportunity to even the game at one. Cross received a pass near the blue line on the far side of the ice, skated towards the top of the point and fired a slapshot through traffic that beat Castleton's Paula Stephens to put the game on level terms.

Less than a minute later, Norwich struck again to claim the lead. On a two-on-one break, Joyce skated towards the far post and finished a shot top shelf to make it 2-1 in favor of the Cadets.

NU doubled its lead at the 6:03 mark in the second frame. With a player down, Kaycie Anderson (Maple Plain, Minn.) intercepted a pass in the defensive zone to create a breakaway opportunity. After Stephens knocked aside her initial attempt, Anderson gathered the rebound and fired a shot that deflected off the near post and across the goal line, pushing Norwich's advantage to two. 

Sarah Schwenzfeier (Hingham, Mass.) tacked on a fourth score for the Cadets just over three minutes later. The freshman forward skated across the blue line and into the crease before slipping a shot just under Stephens' pads to give the Cadets a 4-1 lead and record her eighth goal of the year.

At the 2:58 mark, Pizzuto clashed with a defenseman for position before skating around the Cadet to create a scoring opportunity, but Norwich's Celeste Robert came up with a difficult save to deny the effort and maintain the Spartans' three-goal deficit. 

Just over a minute into the final frame, Norwich scored its fifth goal of the evening when Madyson Moore (Dubuque, Iowa) struck for the sixth time this year. A Cadet player fired a shot from the far point that Moore redirected into the back of the net, giving NU a four-goal cushion.

Lisa Kilroy reduced the Spartans' deficit back to three when she finished her own rebound at the 6:32 mark in the third, but it proved to be too late, as the Cadets earned their third straight win of the season with the 5-2 victory.

In net, Stephens suffered her fifth loss of the season for Castleton after stopping 18 of the 23 shots that she faced, while Robert produced 26 saves to record her eighth win of the year. 

Norwich closes out the regular season on Saturday with a 2:05 p.m. game at Holy Cross.