SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Saint Michael's College women's ice hockey team fell to Division I Sacred Heart University, 7-1, Saturday afternoon at Cairns Arena. The Purple Knights are now 3-13, while the Pioneers improved to 17-5. Saint Michael's finished up the weekend 1-1 after taking a 1-0 victory against Sacred Heart Friday night.

Purple and Gold senior Ashley Dineen (Somers, N.Y./Canterbury School) recorded her fourth goal of the season with senior Kaitlyn Wurzer (Lee, N.H./Berwick Academy) and first-year Courtney Kelly (Arlington, Mass./Boston Jr. Shamrocks) adding the assists. Junior Nicole Talcott (Colchester, Vt./Rice Memorial Prep) denied 28 shots in 53:06 of play before first-year Lucy Chin (Lexington, Mass./East Coast Wizards) relieved her and had five saves in 6:54. Wurzer and sophomore Jordan Monbouquette (Wayland, Mass./Lawrence Academy) blocked three shots apiece.

Sacred Heart had three players who tallied three points with senior Brittany Smith leading with two goals and an assist. Junior Haley Payne and sophomore Jayne Lewis had a goal and two assists each. Junior Sarah Erban rejected nine shots in goal as senior Taylor Moreland went 14-for-20 from the faceoff dot.

In a scoreless first period, first-year Maddie Gervais (Glastonbury, Conn./East Catholic) rushed up the left wing at 6:00 and hit a backhander that forced Erban to make a pad save at the left post before Talcott denied senior Meghan Kebalka's one-timer from the slot at 8:25. During a span of 1:48, the Pioneers held a 5-on-3 advantage during which Talcott denied six shots on goal and allowed none through. Within six seconds after Saint Michael's killed the power play, first-year Marissa Letizio miss-struck a shot from the left circle that slipped just inside the right post to pull Sacred Heart ahead 1-0 at 13:03. Late in the stanza, Moreland was alone out front and skated across the crease left to right to make room, but Talcott waited her out and made a save by the right post at 18:55.

Saint Michael's tied the game at 7:35 in the second period as Dineen, with her back facing the net, tipped Wurzer's right-point shot through the goalie's five-hole during a power play. First-year Krista Ferrari (Dunstable, Mass./East Coast Wizards) held a breakaway chance at 15:02 and took a backhanded shot that was saved by the left post. Eighteen seconds later, Smith hit a one-timer from the slot to the left side, pulling Sacred Heart ahead 2-1 at 15:20. Smith recorded her second goal at 17:38 as she picked the upper right corner from the left crease.

Sacred Heart struck again at 3:40 of the third stanza during a power play as senior Carly Radovich took a slap shot from the left point to put her team ahead 4-1. The Pioneers notched three more goals in a span of 3:50 to close out the period.

The Purple Knights travel to the Division I College of the Holy Cross on Friday at 2:05 p.m. to begin a two-game weekend series.