COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College women's soccer team dropped its home opener to Stonehill College, 2-1, on Wednesday at Duffy Field during Northeast-10 Conference action. The Purple Knights slipped to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in the league, absorbing their second one-goal loss, while the Skyhawks are 1-3-1 and 1-1.

First-year Michaela Horne (Southboro, Mass./Algonquin Regional) netted her first collegiate goal for the Purple and Gold, while junior Aubrey Ouellet (Bedford, N.H./Bedford) and sophomore Kaylee Sullivan (East Greenwich, R.I./East Greenwich) each made three saves. Sullivan drew the start, while Ouellet posted a shutout second half.

Junior Maddy Manning (Weymouth, Mass./Weymouth) and first-year Lauren Kapatoes (Hopedale, Mass./Hopedale) each tallied for Stonehill, while senior Amy Wheaton (Dartmouth, Mass./Dartmouth) made seven stops.

Stonehill broke on the board 8:15 into the contest, as Sullivan dove to her left to stop senior Catherine Kelly's (Medfield, Mass./Medfield) close-range shot, but Kapatoes grabbed the rebound on the doorstep and tallied. In the 17th minute, an entry pass into the Saint Michael's penalty area took a high hop off the turf, where a pair of Purple Knight defenders misplayed the ball and were split by Manning, who sent a breakaway shot into the upper right corner.

The hosts had a handful of good scoring opportunities following the Stonehill goals, including when senior Katie Butler (Sayville, N.Y./Saint Anthony) flicked a header toward the left flank in the 26th minute for junior Olivia Biron (Saint Albans, Vt./BFA-Saint Albans), who drove a shot from 15 yards out into Wheaton's hands. In the 33rd minute, junior Jackie DeLucia (Bethel, Conn./Bethel/Sacred Heart) made a central rush toward the net before laying a cross off for sophomore defender Marianna Nowacki (Binghamton, N.Y./Binghamton), who pushed a one-timer wide right.

Upon entering the game at halftime, Ouellet faced her first test in the 57th minute, diving toward the upper right corner of the cage to make a stop, and the Purple Knights nearly got on the board a little more than five minutes later. Early in the 63rd minute, junior Carley Pestana (Bedford, N.H./Bedford) knocked a shot off a Skyhawk defender, who redirected the ball beyond the keeper's reach and toward the right post, where a field player cleared the ball off the goal line.

Butler had a goal waved off due to an offsides call in the 79th minute, but the hosts cut their deficit in half at 82:07 on Horne's tally, with the rookie lofting a shot over Wheaton and into the right side of the net after senior Kate Garaffa (Monroe, Conn./Masuk/Central Connecticut State) dropped a pass off just inside the top of the box. Garaffa sent her own tying attempt high a little more than two minutes later, and a corner kick by the hosts in the 89th minute went unanswered.

The Purple Knights remain at home to face Assumption College on Saturday at 2 p.m.