SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College women's ice hockey team fell to first-place Saint Anselm College, 5-1, on Friday evening during New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) play at Cairns Arena. The Purple Knights are 2-15 overall and 2-8 in the league, while the Hawks improved to 14-2-2 and 11-1.

Junior Katherine O'Brien (East Sandwich, Mass./Tilton School) tallied for the Purple Knights, senior Athena Akiki (Allendale, N.J./New Jersey Rockets) won five faceoffs, and classmate Tina Frasca (Norwood, Mass./Tabor Academy) made 40 saves in 54:21, coming within seven of her career high. It was her eighth career 40-save outing, and she passed classmate Abby Burke (Bedford, Mass./The Rivers School) to take over sixth in program history with 1,388 career stops. Burke has 1,378. Senior Erica Ragazzo (Mansfield, Mass./Ursuline Academy) recorded two saves in the final 5:39.

All of Saint Anselm's point scoring was done by five players. Sophomore Sara McNamara had two goals and an assist, junior Kaitlyn Spillane totaled one goal and two assists, while senior Alison Butler and sophomore Maura Kieft tacked on one goal and one helper apiece. Senior Martha Findley dished off three assists, as the Hawks went 3-of-4 on power plays. Sophomore Maddie Scavotto turned aside seven shots.

Just 31 seconds into the game, McNamara put her team in the lead for good, spinning around in the right circle and roofing a shot. The Purple Knights countered with a 2-on-1 break around the four-minute mark, but junior Kaitlyn Wurzer (Lee, N.H./Berwick Academy) had a shot tipped just over the left corner of the net. Saint Anselm put home a pair of power-play tallies 9:27 apart to go up 3-0. Kieft took a centering pass from Findley and netted her team's second marker at 6:14, and Frasca denied Butler's woman-advantage shot in the final five minutes, but the rebound drifted into the left circle, and Spillane sent a shot beyond the diving goaltender at 15:41. The Purple Knights cracked the scoreboard with 43 seconds remaining, as O'Brien tipped home senior Carolyn Avery's (Lexington, Mass./Lexington) power-play shot.

Frasca made 21 of her stops in the second period alone, with McNamara's tally after 5:24 going down as the only scoring in the stanza. On an odd-woman rush, Kieft sent a lead pass into the low left circle, and McNamara dove to knock the puck into the right side of the cage. Frasca came up with consecutive sprawling saves of Kieft during a Hawk power play around the 12-minute mark, and a teammate sent a follow-up attempt over the glass with the net untended and Frasca still prone.

Nearly six minutes into the third period, Spillane skated into the left circle and ripped a close-range shot that Frasca snapped with her glove. The Purple Knights had an opportunity on a delayed penalty halfway through the stanza, as senior Sarah Bagley's (Concord, Mass./Concord-Carlisle) slap shot was swallowed up by Scavotto. Saint Anselm netted one final marker at 14:21 on another power play, with Butler tipping home Findley's pass.

The Purple Knights host Nichols College tomorrow at 1 p.m. for another NEHC contest.