ASHTON, PA - The fifth seeded Utica College men's hockey team lost to host and fourth seeded Neumann College 4-3 in the first round of the ECAC Men's West Conference Tournament Wednesday night. The Pioneers led 3-1 in the second period, but allowed three unanswered goals, including two in the third period, as the Knights skated to victory.
Utica closes out its 2008-09 campaign with an 11-12-3 overall record, marking its first losing season since 2002-03. The Knights advance to the semi-finals of the conference tournament and improved to 15-9-2 overall. In three previous meetings this season the Pioneers went 1-2 against Neumann. The Knights outscored UC 13-3 in their first two meetings but the Pioneers defeated Neumann 7-3 in their third and final meeting of the regular season. Headed into the evening the Pioneers held a 9-8-2 all-time series advantage over the Knights.
The Pioneers opened the scoring just 2:05 into the first period of play when freshman forward Jake Coyle netted his third goal in the last two games to give UC a 1-0 lead. Junior classmates Matt Fitzgibbons and Aaron Jeffery assisted on Coyle's seventh goal of the season.
Neumann answered back15:33 into the first period when senior forward Erik Stoyanovich knotted the contest at 1-1 with his tenth goal of the season. The Pioneers had just killed off the Knights second power-play opportunity 1:01 before junior defender David Gooch connected with Stoyanovich for the equalizer.
Both squads skated into the first intermission tied at 1-1. Utica held a 9-7 shot advantage and they each won seven face-offs after one period of play.
Junior forward Jeff Pappalardi scored 5:07 into the second period of play to give the Pioneers a 2-1 lead. Pappalardi's fifth goal of the season was assisted by senior assistant captain TJ Schneider and freshman forward Scott Birstill.
The Pioneers took a commanding 3-1 lead when Fitzgibbons netted a short handed tally 15:37 into the second period. His fourth goal of the season came off assists from Russell Anderson and Vincent Nucci.
Just 20 seconds later Neumann cut the Pioneers lead to one goal when Stoyanovich connected with Jeremy Gates on the power play. Gates, a freshman defender, netted his first collegiate goal to close out the second period scoring.
Neumann netted the first two goals of the third period to take a 4-3 lead midway through the final stanza. Freshman forward Marlon Gardner netted a power play goal 4:33 into the period to tie the game up, 3-3, for the second time on the evening. Gardner's 30th point of the season was assisted by Kyle Casey and Matt Ward. Junior defender Dave Gooch added the go-ahead goal 7:09 into the third. Gooch's first goal of the season was assisted by Matt Ward and Brock Van Slyke.
Sophomore goalie Justin Bolla stopped 23 shots in net for the Pioneers, while Ross McKinnon stopped 15 shots between the pipes for the Knights.
Neumann will take on top seeded and nationally-ranked No. 8 Elmira College Saturday in the semi-finals of the ECAC Men's West Conference Tournament at 7 p.m.
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