MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Norwich University women's ice hockey team extended its New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) unbeaten streak to 40 straight games with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Saint Anselm College on Friday night at Sullivan Arena.

Norwich (9-4-0, 7-0-0 NEHC) snapped the Hawks seven-game winning streak with its second straight win.

The Cadets struck first on the power play as Madison Gallagher (Kirkland, Quebec) moved the puck along the back of the net to Muranda Toews (Grand Prairie, Alberta), who cycled the puck to the left face-off circle for Erin Joyce (Manchester, N.H). Joyce flipped a wrist-shot on net that went top shelf and put the Cadets on top 1-0.

The Hawks (11-2-0, 5-2-0 NEHC) answered back just over three minutes later as Saint Anselm capitalized on a change by Norwich following the expiration of a power play. Sara McNamara caused some traffic in front and deflected a shot from Sarah Geisinger. Geisenger chased down the deflection and played a quick pass in front to Alex Starzyk, who had her first shot stopped, but she jammed home the rebound to knot the game at 1-1.

Midway through the second period, the Hawks jumped on top 2-1 as Geisinger forced a turnover near mid-ice and flipped a pass ahead to Starzyk leading to a 2-on-1 for the Hawks. Starzyk waited until the last second and shuffled a pass over to Kaitlyn Spillane, who fired on the open net as the Hawks grabbed a 2-1 lead. Neither team would score the rest of the period as the game entered the final stanza with the Hawks on top by one goal.

Norwich came out of the locker room with a purpose and knotted the game at 2-2 only 5:29 into the final period. After a turnover deep in the Saint Anselm zone, Sarah Schwenzfeier (Hingham, Mass.) played a puck behind the net to Adelle Murphy (Roseau, Minn.). The junior hit a charging Robyn Foley (Goulds, Newfoundland & Labrador) with a pass in front and Foley scored top shelf to tie the game.

The Cadets took advantage of another power play midway through the third period to score the game winner. Foley fired a shot on net that was turned away by Hannah Synnott (Montclair, N.J.) but the rebound came right out to Joyce who scored top-shelf for her second power play goal of the game to give Norwich the 3-2 advantage.

Saint Anselm made one final push at the end of the game, but Celeste Robert (Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec) stopped all three shots she faced on net in the closing minutes to help the Cadets hang on for the 3-2 victory.

The Hawks held a 33-14 advantage in shots on goal while each team won 25 face-offs. Robert picked up her fourth win of the season for the Cadets, stopping 31-of-33 shots she faced. Hannah Synnott suffered her first setback of the season, making 11-of-14 saves.

Norwich returns to action tomorrow for a big tilt at Castleton in a rematch of last year's league championship game.