COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College women's soccer team was locked in a scoreless draw until 9:32 remained in a 2-0 loss to Saint Anselm College on Wednesday during Northeast-10 Conference action on Duffy Field. The Purple Knights are now 1-7 overall and 1-5 in the league, while the Hawks improved to 3-5-1 and 1-4-1.

Sophomore Megan LeCours (Barre, Vt./Spaulding) made three saves for the hosts, who were only outshot 10-8. Junior Olivia Griffin and sophomore Corey Murray scored for Saint Anselm, while senior Cassie Quattropani made two stops.

The teams were scoreless at halftime, with each squad firing four shots in the opening stanza, while Saint Anselm held a slim 3-2 edge in corner kicks. Senior Michaela Horne (Southboro, Mass./Algonquin Regional) had a hand in a trio of scoring chances for the hosts during the opening 15-plus minutes. Her through ball to sprinting sophomore Emily Durette (Nashua, N.H./Nashua South) was knocked away by a rushing Quattropani late in the opening minute before Horne touched a one-time pass over the crossbar from out front in the sixth minute.

Senior Alana Houlihan's (North Andover, Mass./North Andover) free kick from the left corner bounced around the box in the 16th minute, with Horne coming out of the fray out front and sending a shot high of the cage. Late in the frame, LeCours was involved in a couple plays where she helped keep the Hawks off the board. As she fell down on the left side of the box, first-year Katelyn McCoole sent a low shot that LeCours denied at the left post in the 43rd minute, and the keeper slid to knock away a corner kick curling toward the right post early in the 45th minute.

Quattropani intercepted a high cross in the middle of the box heading toward sophomore Sara Rooke (Springfield, Mass./Cathedral) in the 64th minute, and LeCours stopped a pair of long bids in the 66th and 69th minutes. During the 74th minute, Durette and Horne both had close-range shots blocked amid a corner kick sequence, and Saint Anselm broke through in the 81st minute. First-year Sophie Smith sent a corner kick cross that LeCours knocked out with a Hawk in close proximity, and Griffin nabbed the rebound and lifted a shot over LeCours just under the bar.

With nearly all of the Saint Michael's field players in the attacking half of the field, Houlihan's 87th-minute corner kick yielded no shots, and the Hawks quickly countered by springing Murray on a breakaway with LeCours. The keeper came out to challenge before Murray slipped a low shot into the center of the net at 87:02.

The Purple Knights head to Stonehill College on Saturday for a 12 p.m. contest. The Skyhawks are fifth in this week's National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) national poll while sitting atop the East Region rankings.