RYE, N.Y. - The Saint Michael's College women's ice hockey team yielded a pair of first-period goals 32 seconds apart before cutting its deficit in half late in a 2-1 loss to Manhattanville College at the Playland Ice Casino on Friday evening during New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) play. The Purple Knights fell to 5-17-1 overall and 3-13 in the league, while the Valiants are 9-15 and 7-9. Three of the teams' past four meetings have now been decided by two goals or less.

Junior Carolyn Avery (Lexington, Mass./Lexington) scored her third goal of the year for Saint Michael's, while classmate Abby Burke (Bedford, Mass./The Rivers School) made 35 saves for her seventh 35-stop outing of the year. Burke's 532 saves this winter are good for seventh in program history, as she became the fifth woman with 500 for a season. Senior Kaly Spilhaus (Bourne, Mass./Groton School) went 7-of-11 on faceoffs, and sophomore Jillian Witwicki (Danvers, Mass./Pingree School) finished 5-for-8.

Sophomore Kristi Peters and first-year Morgan Wilm scored for Manhattanville, and junior Olivia Drew made 18 stops.

Burke made more than half of her saves in the opening period alone, turning aside 19 shots before the Purple Knights were outshot by a slim 16-13 margin over the final 40 minutes. During one flurry that took a little more than two minutes to elapse, Burke made three saves while Witwicki, junior Lauren Cuculino (Glen Mills, Pa./Quakers) and sophomore Katherine O'Brien (East Sandwich, Mass./Tilton School) all blocked shots.

Wilm broke the stalemate at 10:02, deflecting home a centering pass, and Peters followed only 32 seconds later by one-timing a shot to the top shelf. Burke went unscored upon from there, and her teammates nearly cut into the deficit shortly thereafter, as Avery rang the post within a couple minutes of Peters' goal. Burke made a dozen saves in the final five-plus minutes of the stanza to keep it 2-0 heading into the first intermission.

The teams combined for 17 scoreless shots in the second period before each goalie had one stop during a Manhattanville power play early in the third, including as Purple Knight junior Erin Dwyer's (Weymouth, Mass./Archbishop Williams) shorthanded bid was denied around the four-minute mark. Avery broke on the board at 15:02, sending home the rebound of junior Athena Akiki's (Allendale, N.J./New Jersey Rockets) shot. Spilhaus won the next two draws to keep possession with the visitors, but shots by Avery and junior Sarah Bagley (Concord, Mass./Concord-Carlisle) were both turned away. The Valiants won the last two faceoffs, as the Purple Knights were unable to fire off any further shots, even with a 6-on-5 advantage for the final 1:10 with Burke having vacated the net.

Saint Michael's concludes its regular-season slate on Saturday at Salve Regina University at 7 p.m.