SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - Two third-period goals 5:42 apart were all the Saint Michael's College women's ice hockey team yielded in a 2-0 loss to Manhattanville College on Friday evening in Cairns Arena during Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East play. The Purple Knights are 5-17-1 overall and 4-11-1 in the league, while the Valiants improved to 10-9-5 and 8-5-3.

Sophomore Tina Frasca (Norwood, Mass./Norwood) made 28 stops for Saint Michael's. Senior Aubrey Bachand (Harwichport, Mass./Vermont Academy) and sophomore Kayley Romano (Viera, Fla./Boston Shamrocks) both tallied for Manhattanville, and senior Kirsten Shaughnessy (Le Center, Minn./LeSueur-Henderson Saint Peter) recorded a 21-save shutout.

Both teams fired off six shots in the opening period, with Frasca tested around the midway point when she denied senior Alla Traun (Edina, Minn./Minnesota Thoroughbreds) point blank at the left post. Fewer than three minutes later, Purple Knight senior Fernanda Saavedra (Miami, Fla./Pittsburgh Penguins Elite) sent a pass from behind the net into the slot for sophomore Erin Dwyer (Weymouth, Mass./Charles River), whose wrister was turned aside. Frasca kept it scoreless with 2:35 remaining when she saved a close-range one-timer by senior Michele Meggiolaro (Whippany, N.J./New Jersey Colonials), who had received a centering lead pass.

Manhattanville held a 12-9 edge in shots during the second stanza, taking the first nine shots before the Purple Knights upped their offensive pressure. Frasca stopped Meggiolaro twice in a 35-second span eight minutes into the frame, including extending to make a left-toe stop on a shot from the slot after 7:30. At 13:30, Saint Michael's first-year Jillian Witwicki (Danvers, Mass./Pingree School) tracked down a loose puck at the end boards, chipped it to herself off the wall and then had a bid from the goal line extended turned away. One minute later, junior Amanda Kempainen's (Chazy, N.Y./Chazy Flyers U19) cross-ice pass was a tad too strong for Dwyer, who had the puck tip off her stick near the left post. Shaughnessy used her shoulder to stop Saavedra's attempt to hit the upper right corner with 34 seconds left.

Fewer than three minutes into the final period, junior Kyra Herbert (Plainfield, N.H./Lebanon) rifled a shot on Frasca, who made the initial save, but Romano's follow-up swing at the loose puck chipped it past the netminder at 2:40. Frasca stopped a Traun shot at 5:25 from the slot with her right pad, but Bachand found the left side of the net from close range at 8:22 to double the lead. In the final three minutes, Dwyer redirected a shot from out front that Shaughnessy saved before having a second bid from the doorstep stopped for her team's final shot.

The Purple Knights close out their regular-season slate by hosting Salve Regina University tomorrow at 4 p.m. for Senior Day.