WORCESTER, Mass. – The Saint Michael's College women's ice hockey team had a 5-1 setback against Division I College of the Holy Cross in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) action at the Hart Center on Saturday. The Purple Knights move to 3-13-1 overall and 1-9 in league play, while the Crusaders are 15-2 and 7-2. Holy Cross won last year's Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Open Tournament championship.

With an assist in Saturday's game, Saint Michael's junior Erin Dwyer (Weymouth, Mass./Archbishop Williams) now was 36 career points, which ties her for 10th in program history with Macey Thomas '14.

Saint Michael's junior Lauren Cuculino (Glen Mills, Pa./Quakers) scored with assists from Dwyer and senior Emily Loebs (Acton, Mass./Minuteman Lady Flames). Junior Abby Burke (Bedford, Mass./The Rivers School) made 39 saves in 45:04 for her seventh 30-save outing of the season and classmate Erica Ragazzo (Mansfield, Mass./Ursuline Academy) had nine stops in 14:56 of relief.

Holy Cross sophomore Emily Lissner had one goal and one assist, while juniors Erin Hall and Elizabeth Scala and first-years Aubrey Ashmun and Julie Matthias each scored once. Senior Mackenzie Boardman and first-year Tori Messina both had two assists. Sophomore Tessie Salatas stopped five shots over the first periods and first-year Alex Barnes made four saves in the final stanza.

Holy Cross netted three first-period goals. Scala potted a power-play marker at 11:59 with a one-timer slapshot in the slot after receiving a pass from Boardman. Matthias extended the hosts' lead to 2-0 at 17:25 with another power-play tally. Lissner battled for a loose puck in the slot. As the puck deflected off of Lissner, Matthias found possession in front of the net and redirected to the back of the net. Ashmun rounded out the opening period scoring with 52 seconds remaining after punching in a rebound chance following sophomore Sierra Hannough's initial shot.

The Crusaders were held to one goal on 16 second-period shots. With 22 seconds left in the stanza, Boardman fought through a scrum below the goal line and fed a pass to Hall, who snapped a shot past Burke's blocker. Holy Cross scored its final goal at 5:04 of the third period as Lissner redirected Messina's point shot. Three minutes later, Saint Michael's broke onto the scoreboard with a power-play tally. Off a pass from Loebs, Cuculino took a wrist shot from between the circles and beat Barnes stick side. Barnes was tested four more times during the remainder of the period, while Ragazzo turned away all nine shots she faced.

Saint Michael's and Holy Cross meet for the third and final this season as the Purple Knights host the Crusaders next Saturday at 1 p.m.