Utica, NY (November 8, 2014) – The nationally-ranked No. 14 Utica College men's hockey team gave up three unanswered goals to ECAC West rival Nazareth College Saturday night as it lost, 5-4, in front of a sellout crowd of 3,815 at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. Senior Peter LaFosse (Merrimack, NH/Kimball Union Academy) led the Pioneers with two power-play goals on the evening.
 
UC now occupies a 1-1-1 record overall while holding an 0-1-1 mark in the ECAC West Conference and will hit the road next weekend as it continues conference play with back-to-back battles against Elmira and Hobart.  Utica travels to Elmira on Friday to face the Soaring Eagles at 7 p.m. before heading to Geneva, NY on Saturday to challenge the Statesmen of Hobart in a 4 p.m. afternoon face-off.  Elmira occupies a 0-1-1 ledger overall and in league play after losing to Neumann, 3-2, and tying M'Ville, 1-1, both in overtime.  Hobart's two losses came by one-goal defeats to Potsdam and conference foe Manhattanville but recently handled Neumann, 6-3, on the road.
 
The Golden Flyers move into a first place tie with Manhattanville after skating out of the Aud over the weekend without a loss.  Naz is now 2-0-1 overall including a 1-0-1 mark in the highly respected ECAC West league. The Golden Flyers have a tough set ahead as they will head to Geneva, NY this Friday to test the Statesmen before treking to Lakerville to greet Oswego on Nov. 15^th.
 
After a sluggish first 20 minutes of play by both teams, the action took off just over three minutes into the second period as the league rivals put up five goals in a span of nine minutes.  The back and forth action aided the home team however as Utica edged a one-score lead, 3-2, headed into the final intermission.
 
Each score in the second period was answered with a quick reply as the initial four tallies were announced within a span of 1:20, showing a 2-2 tie just 5:03 into the second. Senior Justin Hogan (Val Therese, Ontario/Brooks Bandits (AJHL)) horned the first for UC, at 3:43, followed by LaFosse, at 4:35, and then Louie Educate (Chicago, IL/Aberdeen (NAHL)), at 12:01, granting the Pioneers a 3-2 advantage headed into the final frame.
 
LaFosse put home his second power-play score of the night just 1:02 into the final period to cushion UC with a 4-2 lead however wouldn't be enough as the visiting Golden Flyers rattled off three-unanswered scores, two on man-up play, to quiet the crowd en route to victory.
 
Utica outshot Naz 28-22 on the night while winning 48-of-79 face-offs and converting 3-of-6 (50%) on the power-play but couldn't secure the win as UC slides to the bottom of ECAC play on the early season.