SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Saint Michael's College women's ice hockey team fell to the State University of New York at Potsdam, 4-1, in its home opener Saturday afternoon at Cairns Arena to cap a weekend home-and-home series. With the loss, the Purple Knights fall to 0-2. With the win, the Bears improve to 2-0 on the season.

Senior Tori Hubbard (Saint Albans, Vt./BFA-Saint Albans) scored the lone goal for the Purple Knights. Classmate Lauren Cuculino (Glen Mills, Pa./Quakers) and junior Kaitlyn Wurzer (Lee, N.H./Berwick Academy) each had one assist. Classmate Jillian Witwicki (Danvers, Mass./Pingree School) went 11-for-19 at the faceoff dot. Senior Tina Frasca (Norwood, Mass./Tabor Academy) made 34 saves in her first game back since missing last season due to injury. It was her 23rd career 30-save performance.

For the Bears, senior Jordan Ott scored twice. Juniors Jaci Morr and Brenna Wilson each registered a goal and an assist. Senior Kaylen Van Wagner and sophomore Riley Murray both contributed two assists. First-year Nicole Whitesell made 26 stops in her collegiate debut.

Two minutes into the first period, the Bears finished off a 2-on-1 with a shot by Murray that Frasca made a pad save on. During a Purple Knight power play with 11 minutes remaining, junior Ashley Dineen (Somers, N.Y./Canterbury School) was stopped by Whitesell on the doorstep, and Witwicki had a backhanded attempt down low turned away on another power play two minutes later. On a delayed penalty with a little more than two minutes remaining, Morr finished off a scramble in front of the goal by sliding a shot on the ice past Frasca to make the score 1-0 17:43 into the first. A little more than a minute later, Murray found Wilson with a pass out front before Wilson sent a shot into the upper portion of goal at 18:55. The first period ended with SUNY Potsdam leading 2-0.

During a Purple Knight power play early in the second, Wurzer sent a pass to Hubbard, who fired from the left circle and put a shot past Whitesell making the score 2-1 after 2:30. Halfway through the period, Ott let go of a shot from the top of the left circle that beat Frasca over her blocker-side shoulder with 9:54 remaining. With 1:04 remaining, senior Sarah Bagley (Concord, Mass./Concord-Carlisle) had a step on two SUNY Potsdam defenders to race into the high slot but rang a shot off of Whitesell's helmet. The second period concluded with SUNY Potsdam in the lead, 3-1.

A little more than two minutes into the third, Wilson let go of a one-timer from the right post that Frasca denied with a left pad save after sliding pipe to pipe for one of her 19 saves in the final period. With 7:15 remaining, Ott finished with a one-timer into the upper left corner following Morr's feed from behind the net.

The Purple Knights' next contest is a New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) matchup with Franklin Pierce University at home on Friday at 7 p.m.