ICE HOCKEY

NORTHFIELD, Vt. - The Norwich women's ice hockey team lost its second straight game on Sunday afternoon, dropping a 5-1 decision to visiting St. Anselm at Kreitzberg Arena.

The Cadets (2-2-1, 1-2-1 ECAC East) hung tough with the conference-leading Hawks, who improve to 6-0-0 (5-0-0 ECAC East). Norwich was tied with St. Anselm after one period, and the Cadets trailed just 2-1 entering the final 20 minutes before running out of steam.

Norwich opened the scoring at the 14:04 mark of the first period as Kelsey Cone ripped a drive from the blue line past St. Anselm goaltender Andrea Berlin to give the Cadets a 1-0 lead. The Hawks knotted the score with less than two minutes to play in the opening stanza when Rachel Cooke beat NU goalie Cindy Fortin with a shot from the left faceoff circle at the 1:48 mark.

St. Anselm scored the game-winning goal midway through the second period, and the Hawks added three insurance tallies in the third to ice the game.

Norwich will close out the first half of its season on Sunday, Dec. 9, when the Cadets host Connecticut College at Kreitzberg Arena at 3 p.m. The contest will mark NU's final game until Jan. 4-5, when the team travels to Colchester, Vt., to participate in the St. Michael's Tournament.