MANCHESTER, N.H. - The Saint Michael's College women's ice hockey team opened a season-ending road swing at Saint Anselm College on Friday during New England Hockey Conference action, falling by a 10-0 count in Sullivan Arena. The Purple Knights are 4-16-1 overall and 2-12 in the league, while the Hawks improved to 18-4 and 12-2. After playing only five of its first 20 games on the road, the Purple and Gold opened a run of at least five straight away from home to end the season, including an NEHC Open Tournament first-round game.

Junior Abby Burke (Bedford, Mass./The Rivers School) made 24 stops in 31:14 to take the loss for Saint Michael's, reaching two milestones in the process. She became the sixth Purple Knight with 1,000 career saves, moving her total to 1,023, while increasing her season figure to 484, good for ninth in program history. Only four women have reached 500. Classmate Erica Ragazzo (Mansfield, Mass./Ursuline Academy) had 12 stops during the third period, and first-year Nicole Talcott (Colchester, Vt./Rice Memorial Prep) notched seven saves in 8:42. Junior Carolyn Avery (Lexington, Mass./Lexington) and sophomore Jillian Witwicki (Danvers, Mass./Pingree School) both won seven faceoffs.

Junior Alison Butler netted five goals for Saint Anselm, senior Alex Kazmer had two, and junior Alex Starzyk and sophomore Kaitlyn Spillane added a goal and an assist apiece. Junior Alison Quinn scored once, and sophomore Ashley Moran dished out four assists. Junior Hannah Synnott worked the seven-save shutout.

During an opening period in which Burke made 18 stops, Saint Michael's held the Hawks off the board until the final five minutes. The Purple Knights earned a power play 2:17 into the contest and won a pair of draws during that time to sustain possession, but they were unable to fire a shot on net. In the 90 seconds that followed the expiration of the penalty, Burke made a pair of stops and two Saint Michael's skaters blocked shots. Butler broke the deadlock with both goals in the final 4:50, which came 4:28 apart. Moran lent a hand on each, at 15:10 and 19:38.

Butler completed a natural hat trick 1:56 into the second period, but Saint Michael's limited the Hawks behind four blocked shots and four stops from Burke over the ensuing eight-plus minutes. Saint Anselm added to its advantage with three goals in a 4:51 span before Kazmer tallied her second with 1:16 remaining. Butler and Quinn scored in the opening 3:56 of the third before Butler capped the offense at 12:14.

Saint Michael's heads to Nichols College for a 4:40 p.m. contest on Saturday