That was courtesy of Burlington’s Assumption Crusaders, who struck twice in the opening half and held on for a 2-1 victory — giving the Spartans their first loss of the year.

With Nicci Moses away on personal matters, back-up netminder Jessica Notman was beat on a couple of close-range deposits — the latter a breakaway — but did stop two other shots to keep her teammates in the game.

Jenny Strank offered her ample defensive support and was a force at either end of the field, while Kelsey Wimmer did a great job advancing the ball and cut Assumption’s lead in half midway through the second on a lengthy wide-angle chop.

Drury threatened to score in the late stages of both halves, but either lost possession in a scramble or couldn’t find a hole through traffic.

Now 4-1, the Spartans still had a shot at a top-two finish in Halton Richardson Division play — and a subsequent first-round bye — heading into yesterday afternoon’s clash with the undefeated (5-0) Notre Dame Irish.

Meanwhile, E. C.’s juniors sank their first two goals of the season Tuesday against Assumption. Unfortunately that wasn’t quite enough to break into the win column, as the Crusaders scored late to prevail 3-2.

Alexis Watts and Macy Tollefson beat the visiting cager, while standing out defensively was Heather Aleinik.

Falling to 0-3-1 with the narrow loss, the juniors will be hard-pressed to make the playoffs — likely needing to win two of their last three games to grab one of the last couple of berths.

They host the 2-2-1 Georgetown Rebels today at 4 p. m.