WORCESTER, Mass. (February 9, 2018) – A pair of goals against in each of the first two periods on Friday night left the Franklin Pierce University women's ice hockey team in a hole it could not dig out of at the Hart Center. Senior forward Kara Violette put home two goals and added an assist to lead Holy Cross to a 5-1 victory in New England Women's Hockey Alliance play.

With the loss, Franklin Pierce falls to 12-10-2 (6-10-1 NEWHA), while Holy Cross improves to 14-6-3 (13-2-2 NEWHA). The two teams will meet again on Saturday afternoon, at Franklin Pierce, to wrap up the four-game season series. Opening faceoff is set for 4 p.m. at Jason Ritchie Ice Arena in Winchendon.

Holy Cross put home a pair of goals in the first period to take a lead it would never relinquish on home ice. Junior defenseman Tori Messina converted to open the scoring on the Crusaders' only power-play opportunity of the night, at the 7:24 mark. Junior forward Maeve Reilly provided the only assist on Messina's sixth goal of the year.

Freshman defenseman Grace Peluso followed up just 2:21 later to make it 2-0. It was her sixth goal of the campaign as well, and came off of a feed from sophomore forward Maggie Hallisey, at 9:45.

Franklin Pierce struck for its only goal of the night 90 seconds into the second stanza. It was the 11^th of the season for freshman forward Marissa Massaro (Brockton, Mass.), off of an assist from sophomore defenseman Delaney Guimont (Bedford, N.H.), at the 1:30 mark.

Reilly pushed the lead back to two goals just 79 seconds later, at 2:49. Her seventh goal of the year came off of assists from junior forward Julie Matthias and Violette. It was then Violette who made it 4-1, at the 12:17 mark. Her first of the night, and 12^th of the season, came off of assists from Messina and Matthias.

A final insurance marker in the third period created the 5-1 final. Violette put home her second of the night at the 17:54 mark, off of an assist from Reilly.

Freshman goaltender Kelly Turney (Fort Gratiot, Mich.) made 22 saves against 27 shots on goal and suffered the loss (5-5-1) in defeat for Franklin Pierce. In the opposite crease, sophomore netminder Marcia LaPlante (4-0-0) stopped 20 of 21 shots to pick up the win for Holy Cross.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce women's ice hockey apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).