Video Highlights by Tanner Acebo, NU Sports Information

NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University women's ice hockey team downed Franklin Pierce 4-1 behind a pair of goals from junior defenseman Taylor Cross (Saugus, Mass.) on Friday afternoon in Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East at Kreitzberg Arena.

Norwich (14-4-2, 11-0-1) extended its league unbeaten streak to 28 straight games with the victory in its final regular season home game of 2014-15 and its first-ever meeting against Franklin Pierce.

Sophomore Adelle Murphy (Roseau, Minn.) and junior Rachel Bellio (Denver, Colo.) each added goals, while senior forward Kaycie Anderson (Maple Plain, Minn.) and freshmen forwards Maki Shuchuk (Madison, Wis.) and Erin Joyce (Manchester, N.H.) each notched two assists.

Norwich struck first blood at the 2:53 mark of the first period with Cross blasting a slap shot from the point through a screen in front of Franklin Pierce goalie Noelle White to make it 1-0 Cadets on the power play.

Cross took a pass from Joyce along the blue line and fired a shot along the ice that beat White to her right into the bottom left corner of the net. Anderson also picked up the second assist on the goal.

The Cadets added to their lead at the 6:32 mark of the first period with Murphy taking a pass from freshman forward Sarah Schwenzfeier (Hingham, Mass.), who intercepted a clearing attempt and fed the puck to Murphy all alone in front of the net. Murphy waited a second and then slipped the puck through White's five-hole to make it 2-0 Norwich with her third goal of the season.

Franklin Pierce (14-5-1, 8-4-0 ECAC East) got on the board just 28 seconds in the second period with Alsyha Raimo beat NU senior goalie off an assist from Karsyn Baker to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Neither side scored again in the middle frame leaving Norwich with a 2-1 lead heading into the second intermission.

Cross struck again on the power play at the 3:32 mark of the third period with another slap shot from the point off assists from Joyce and Shuchuk. The goal was Cross' fifth of the season.

Bellio capped the scoring at 14:27 of the third period flipping the puck past White on 2-on-1 odd-player rush with Anderson. Shuchuk also tallied an assist on Bellio's sixth goal of the season and third goal in the last four games.

Carrier made 20 saves for Norwich to pick up the victory and improve to 4-2-0 on the season. White made 16 saves to fall to 9-2-0 on the season.

Norwich is off until next weekend when it hits the road for the start of its five-game road trip to close the regular season. The Cadets take on Southern Maine and the Univ. of New England on Friday and Saturday at 4 p.m. and 3 p.m. respectively.

-CADETS-