COLCHESTER, Vt. - For the second straight season, the Saint Michael's College women's soccer team put a scare into a nationally-ranked College of Saint Rose squad, as the Purple Knights yielded just a 13th-minute tally during a 1-0 setback on Wednesday at Duffy Field. In a Northeast-10 Conference contest, Saint Michael's limited the nation's second-best offense, which had been averaging 3.8 goals.

The Purple Knights are now 5-9-1 overall and 4-8-1 in the league, as last year they slipped by a 2-1 count to the then-top-ranked Golden Knights in Albany, N.Y. Saint Rose is 13-1-1 and 10-1-1, as it stands 17th in this week's National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) national poll and third in the regional rankings.

Senior Ashleigh Adams (Milton, Vt./Milton) made 12 saves for the hosts, who had a handful of offensive opportunities despite seeing Saint Rose record advantages of 23-10 in shots and 9-2 in corner kicks. Senior Brittany Godin (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Arcadia) scored the game's lone marker for the visitors, and sophomore Jessica Gerski (Harbor City, Calif./Bishop Montgomery/Cal State Los Angeles) had three saves.

Godin's goal came on the Golden Knights' first shot. Senior Gianna D'Errico (Shrewsbury, Mass./Shrewsbury) drew Adams from the net before sending a short cross from the left side of the box to Godin, who tallied on the open net at 12:20. However, the Purple Knights held the visitors scoreless on their final 22 shots.

In the 25th minute, Purple Knight junior Janet Bazzell (Haverhill, N.H./Woodsville) rushed up the left flank and crossed from the end line, finding senior Kristin Hagenbarth (Killington, Vt./Woodstock Union/Vermont), who crashed the net while being flanked by a defender and touched the ball over the crossbar.

Adams touched away D'Errico's bid to hit the upper right-hand corner from 20 yards in the 31st minute before sliding from the net in the 34th minute to knock the ball away with the Golden Knights on an odd-player rush. Adams again went high to make a stop during the 36th minute, tapping away a shot heading for just below the bar.

The hosts continued pushing for the tie during the second stanza. In the 76th minute, junior Julia Moorehead's (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) takeaway in the Saint Rose end led to freshman Olivia Biron (Saint Albans, Vt./BFA-Saint Albans) firing a left-footed shot on Gerski from an angle. Adams kept her team within one goal in the 83rd minute, as D'Errico carried alone on a breakaway and slipped a shot toward the lower right from 10 yards, but the keeper got a piece of the attempt and collected the ball before it could cross the goal line.

Saint Michael's needs to win its final two games to have a shot at making the NE-10 Tournament, beginning with a Senior Day contest on Saturday against the University of New Haven at 2:30 p.m.