Utica, NY (Feb. 14, 2009) – Utica College freshman forward Russell Anderson netted two goals, to give him four in two nights, but it was not enough as Manhattanville College skated to a 4-2 victory Saturday night in front of 2,434 fans at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.

The Pioneers are losers of seven of their last eight games and dropped to 10-11-2 overall (4-9 in ECAC West). Manhattanville, which now owns a 15-6-4 all-time series advantage over Utica, has won 15 of its last 16 games and improves to 16-3-3 overall and 8-3-2 in conference play. The Valiants, ranked No. 11 nationally by USCHO.com, outscored the Pioneers 13-7 over the course of three victories this season.

For the second straight night the Pioneers outshot the Valiants (25-22) but Utica shot itself in the foot twice this evening, giving up an own goal in the second period and mishandling the puck late in the game to surrender an easy shorthanded open-netter with 17 ticks left on the game clock.

The Pioneers earned a 1-0 lead at the 13:36 mark of the first period when Anderson tallied his first goal of the night on a 6-on-4 power-play opportunity. Anderson's seventh goal of the year came after tape-to-tape passes from Tim Coffman and Nick Kulas. Coffman eventually connected with Anderson, backdoor, to beat Valiant net minder Pierre-Olivier Lemieux on the right side.

Manhattanville knotted the contest up at 1-1 just 23 seconds into the second period when he scored his team-high 17th goal of the season off assists from Evan Michalchuk and AJ Mikkelsen. Anderson answered 8:29 later to give UC back a one goal lead, 2-1, when he banged home his eighth goal of the year. Junior Vincent Nucci and sophomore Sean Timkey assisted on the go-ahead goal 10:02 into the second.

Dillon Henningson's tenth goal of the season and first goal of the evening tied the game up at 2-2 at the 11:14 mark of the second period. Henningson sent the initial shot on goal and it was pushed to the side by UC goalie Anthony Luckow. Unfortunately for the Pioneers the puck ricocheted off the skate of freshman defender Chad Bazin and into the back of the net.

Henningson's second goal of the evening gave the Valiants the lead for good, 3-2, with just over six minutes to go in the game. Henningson, who was parked in front of the net, received a pass from Arlen Marshall out front and he ripped home a wrist shot into the top right corner for the game-winner. Trafford was also credited with an assist on the power-play goal.

Henningson completed the hat-trick after collecting an errand pass from UC's Russell Anderson right in front of the net. Anderson was attempting to start a 6-on-4 break out when he delivered a pass right to Henningson from behind the net. Utica had its goalie pulled in order to earn the two-man advantage, so it was an easy open-netter from about five feet out for Henningson to cap the scoring on the evening.

Lemieux made 23 stops in net for the Valiants while Luckow stopped 18 shots in his fifth loss of the season for the Pioneers.

The Pioneers returns to action Friday when it host conference rival Elmira College at the Utica Memorial Auditorium for their final home game of the season. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7 p.m.

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