BEVERLY, Mass. — Coming off a strong 3-0 home-opening win over the No. 15-ranked Norwich Cadets, the No. 7-ranked Plattsburgh State women's ice hockey team hit the road on Saturday afternoon to take on No. 13-ranked Endicott. Despite jumping out to an early lead, the Cardinals couldn't sustain the momentum and fell 3-1 to the Gulls.

From the opening puck drop, Plattsburgh looked poised to build on its home success. Tessa Morris (Grand Island, N.Y.) opened the scoring late in the first period, burying a feed from Kayson Ruegge (Edmond, Okla.) and Taya Balfour (Moorestown, N.J.) with just 4.2 seconds remaining to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

Endicott responded in the second period with a pair of goals to swing the momentum. Ava Schmidt tied the game at 7:53 off assists from Mackenzie Graham and Lily Anderson, before Ella Rago capitalized on a power play at 15:32, assisted by Jo Wimler and Lilly Corso, to give the Gulls a 2-1 lead heading into the intermission.

In the third period, the Gulls extended their advantage when Cammi Ahern scored on the power play midway through the frame, with assists credited to Corso and Rago, putting the game out of reach at 3-1.

Despite controlling much of the play, Plattsburgh couldn't break through against Endicott's goaltender Lauren Ferrari, who made 45 saves in a standout performance. The Cardinals outshot the Gulls 46-20 and maintained control throughout, but Endicott's power play success proved to be the difference, scoring twice while holding Plattsburgh to just one goal on 46 shots.

The matchup marked just the third all-time meeting between the two programs, with each of the previous two contests going into overtime. Despite taking the early lead, the Cardinals couldn't recreate the late-game magic this time around.

Plattsburgh State falls to 1-1-0 on the season and will return to action on Friday, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m., when they open State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) play at home against William Smith.