WORCESTER, Mass. - The Saint Michael's College women's ice hockey team dropped a 6-0 decision to Division I College of the Holy Cross during New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) action at the Hart Center on Saturday. The Purple Knights move to 1-6-1 overall and 1-5 in the league, while the Crusaders, last year's Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Open Tournament champion, are 6-2 and 4-2.

Saint Michael's junior Erin Dwyer (Weymouth, Mass./Archbishop Williams) was 7-of-16 on faceoffs. Classmates Abby Burke (Bedford, Mass./The Rivers School) and Erica Ragazzo (Mansfield, Mass./Ursuline Academy) combined for 50 saves, with Burke stopping 17 shots in the opening 22:49 before Ragazzo collected a career-high 34 saves in 37:11 of relief action.

First-year Julie Matthias scored twice for Holy Cross, while senior Mackenzie Boardman, junior Elizabeth Scala and first-years Danielle Doherty and Sam Girard each netted one goal. Senior Taylor McGee and sophomore Lauren Abbenante both provided two assists. Sophomore Siobhan Burke posted a 15-save shutout.

Holy Cross, which entered Saturday sixth among all Division I/II programs and fourth in the NEHC with 3.86 goals per game, registered two goals during a 14-shot first period. On their fourth shot of the game, the Crusaders netted the first goal at 6:38 as Matthias one-timed a shot off a feed from Abbenante. The hosts scored two minutes later as junior Izzy Bagi gave a neutral-zone pass to Girard, who skated in and buried a shot at 8:48. Saint Michael's junior Sarah Bagley (Concord, Mass./Concord-Carlisle) and sophomore Jillian Witwicki (Danvers, Mass./Pingree School) were both stopped by Burke to account for the visitors' last two shots of the period.

The hosts then reeled off three goals in the second period. Scala tallied a power-play marker at 2:16 before Matthias punched in a score from the top of the crease just 33 seconds later. Holy Cross extended its late to 5-0 at 6:16 when Boardman put in a rebound following an initial stop on junior Erin Hall's shot. After the goal, Ragazzo turned aside all 18 shots she faced through the remainder of the stanza.

Burke kept the shutout intact after making seven third-period stops. Following a Saint Michael's power play early in the stanza, Purple Knight senior Kaly Spilhaus (Bourne, Mass./Groton School) rang a shot off the post. Doherty potted the Crusaders' sixth and final goal at 15:32 to round out the scoring. 

Saint Michael's breaks for Thanksgiving week and will play again on Dec. 4 in a non-conference home meeting against Daniel Webster College.