SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College women's ice hockey team's late rally came up short as it fell to the College of the Holy Cross, 3-2, on Saturday afternoon in Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East action at Cairns Arena. With the loss, the Purple Knights fall to 0-5 overall and 0-4 in league play while taking their third one-goal loss, and the Crusaders improve to 4-1 and 2-1.

Purple Knight sophomore Amanda Kempainen (Chazy, N.Y./Chazy Flyers U19) scored and had an assist while first-year Sarah Bagley (Concord, Mass./Concord-Carlisle) tallied her first collegiate goal. Senior Macey Thomas (Amherst, Mass./Northfield Mount Hermon) also contributed two assists. Senior Meaghan Leong (Cohasset, Mass./Notre Dame Academy) played 40 minutes in net and stopped a career-high 32 shots in a losing effort while first-year Tina Frasca (Norwood, Mass./Massachusetts Spitfires) played 19:54 and had five saves.

Crusader junior Chelsea Monahan (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West) and first-years Izzy Bagi (Branford, Conn./The Gunnery) and Rose Rather (Stamford, Conn./Rye Country Day) each scored. Senior Emily Sullivan (Arlington, Mass./Arlington) and junior Francesca Panarelli (Shrewsbury, Mass./Middlesex) each contributed with two assists while classmate Rachel Miller (Jackson, Mich./Lumen Christi Catholic) and sophomore Mackenzie Boardman (Anchorage, Alaska/Brewster Academy) also had an assist each. Junior goaltender Alex Stevenson (Norwood, N.Y./Loomis Chaffee) turned away six shots.

Bagley gave the Purple Knights a lead at 16:40 of the first period. She trailed Thomas moving into the slot before Thomas dropped the puck behind her and Bagley wristed a shot to the lower stick side of Stevenson. The Crusaders scored three unanswered goals in the second period beginning at 8:13. The first one came on a slap shot from the point by Bagi on the power play. Monahan scored at 15:29 and then Rather scored with 1:44 remaining in the frame. Early in the third, Thomas streaked down the ice on a breakaway 20 seconds in and tried to slip the back-handed shot past Anderson but was denied. With 1:18 remaining in the game, Kempainen cut the lead to one on the power play to make it 3-2. However, the Purple Knights were unable to get another chance to tie the game.

The Purple Knights travel to New England College next Friday at 4 p.m.