SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College women's ice hockey team fell to the second-place College of the Holy Cross, 4-0, in an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East contest on Friday at Cairns Arena. The Purple Knights drop to 3-19-1 overall and 2-14-1 in the ECAC East, while the Crusaders improve to 18-2-3 and 14-2-1.

Junior Erin Stevens (Watertown, Conn./Connecticut Polar Bears) finished with 32 saves for the Purple Knights, including 14 in the third period, when the hosts trailed just 2-0 until the final 11 minutes.

Senior Stacey Hochkins (New Boston, Mich./Huron) led the Crusaders with two power-play goals and one assist, while classmate Nicola Garat (Princeton, N.J./Lewis) finished with one tally and two helpers. Junior Caroline English (Dorchester, Mass./Tabor Academy) contributed one marker and one assist, while freshman Krista Manzanares (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif./Tabor Academy) worked the 17-save shutout.

The Crusaders got on the board first, 16 seconds into the opening period, when English crashed the net and put home a rebound off of her own shot. That was the lone scoring in the stanza, and the Purple Knights ended up outshooting the visitors, 8-7.

Holy Cross extended its lead to 2-0, as Hochkins tallied her first power-play goal of the contest at 5:37 of the second frame. The Crusaders had a number of quality opportunities in the period, including when Hochkins twice skated in alone, including a penalty shot, but Stevens stopped both opportunities.

The Crusaders extended their lead to three goals at 9:!5 of the third period when Hochkins tallied her second power-play goal of the night, and then Garat tacked on the final goal with 33 seconds left.

The Purple Knights complete the regular season at home on Saturday with an ECAC East match-up with Salve Regina University at 1 p.m.