WORCESTER, Mass. The American International College ice hockey squad dropped a, 7-1, decision to The College of the Holy Cross in Atlantic Hockey action this evening from the Hart Center.

The loss drops AIC to 6-26-2 overall and 6-18-2 in conference play while Holy Cross improves to 15-11-5 on the year and 13-7-5 in AHC action.

The Crusaders controlled the pace of play early on and broke through with a pair of quick goals just 1:10 apart midway through the opening stanza.

It was a pair of freshman who picked up their first career tallies with Johnny Coughlin (Fairpoint, N.Y.) jamming one home at 10:04 and Mitch Collett (Calgary, Alb.) finding himself on a break-away and was able to beat sophomore goaltender Alex Murray (Burlington, Ont.) five-hole at 11:14 for the 2-0 advantage.

Holy Cross wasted little time extending their lead as just 23 ticks into the middle frame sophomore Ryan Ferrill (Havertown, Pa.) lit the lamp with a wrist-shot from below the right dot for the 3-0 edge.

Junior Austin Orszulak (Springfield, Mass.) nearly put the Jackets on the board with a break-away effort, but his shot clanked the crossbar at 3:56 keeping the three-goal margin for the hosts.

The Crusaders then used the power-play to grab the 4-0 lead as AIC killed off 1:47 of 5-on-3 action, but with 10 seconds left on the man-advantage it was sophomore Scott Pooley (Granger, Ind.) slipping one in past the right pad of Murray at 10:04.

Fellow sophomore Danny Lopez (Barrington Hills, Ill.) then made things 5-0 in favor of the hosts as he found the back of the net with a wrist-shot from the high slot at 11:28 of the second period.

The Jackets continued to fight and got themselves on the board as it was freshman Trevor Cope (White Lake, Mich.) with a wrap-around bid and classmate Marc Dubeau (St. Lina, Alb.) cleaning things up for the 5-1 score at 12:10.

Once again Holy Cross came back down the ice as this time is was sophomore T.J. Moore (Edina, Minn.) collecting his team-leading 14th goal of the season at 14:40 for the 6-1 margin.

The Crusaders continued the pressure into the final period and senior Castan Sommer (Shrewsbury, Mass.) used a little tic-tack-toe to push the score to 7-1 at 13:54. Lopez then registered his second of the contest with a turnaround shot in the slot at 17:44 for the final score.

Murray stopped 20pucks in 31:45 of game play to fall to 6-20-2 on the year before being replaced by sophomore Jacob Caffrey (Bethesda, Md.) who made 17saves over the final 28:15. Holy Cross sophomore Paul Berrafato (Williamsville, N.Y.) improved to 14-9-5 with the victory after collecting 16 saves before being replaced late in the third period.

The Crusaders killed off both of the penalties they committed while also converting 1-of-4 power-play chances themselves.

Both teams return to action tomorrow night as the venue shifts to the Olympia Ice Center for a 7:05 p.m. puck drop as the four AIC seniors will be honored as part of a brief Senior Day ceremony before the start of the game.