PLYMOUTH, N.H. - The Saint Michael's College women's ice hockey team opened Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East play on Friday with a 4-1 loss at Plymouth State University in Hanaway Rink. The Purple Knights are 0-2 overall, while the Panthers moved to 1-1-1 and 1-0 in the league.

Sophomore Abby Burke (Bedford, Mass./The Rivers School) came away with 15 saves for Saint Michael's, and classmate Lauren Cuculino (Glen Mills, Pa./Quakers) scored.

Senior Kelsey Crosby (Walpole, Mass./Walpole) had a goal and an assist for Plymouth State, while classmate Kate Banys (Newburyport, Mass./Saint Thomas Aquinas), sophomore Lauren Connelly (Braintree, Mass./Braintree) and first-year Taylor Shrode (Craig, Colo./Colorado Springs Tigers) also scored. Junior Alyssa Altschuler (Cheshire, Conn./SUNY Canton) had 23 stops.

The Purple Knights had three shots turned away by Altschuler around the one-minute mark of the opening period before Shrode got the Panthers on the board first, converting six seconds into a 5-on-3 power play 8:28 into the contest by slapping a shot home from the right point. Saint Michael's fired off the next four shots, but each was denied prior to intermission, and the hosts carried a 1-0 edge.

Plymouth State was whistled for a penalty 4:13 into the second period, and after first-year Jillian Witwicki (Danvers, Mass./Pingree School) had a shot stopped early in the ensuing Purple Knight power play, the hosts countered when Banys netted a short-handed marker on a breakaway at 4:22 to double her squad's advantage. However, Witwicki fed Cuculino for a power-play tally at 4:41 to bring the visitors within 2-1, with Cuculino going stick side from the right side. With Saint Michael's pressing to tie during a mid-stanza woman advantage, Altschuler stopped three more attempts, and Connelly netted another Panther goal at 15:22 after Cosby sent a cross-crease pass. Burke kept it 3-1 heading into the third with three saves during a late Plymouth State power play.

Cosby added a goal of her own 13:29 into the third period to put the game out of reach, sending a shot past a screened Burke, during a period in which Saint Michael's held a modest 5-3 edge in shots.

The Purple Knights continue a four-game road swing at three-time defending ECAC Open Tournament champion Saint Anselm College tomorrow at 1 p.m.