WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – A four-goal Wilkes first period put the visiting Manhattanville College men's team in too big of a deficit to climb out of on Saturday, falling by a final of 6-3. The loss drops the Valiants to 8-6-2 on the year and 5-4-2 in conference play.

The Colonels scored three straight goals to open up the contest, forcing Manhattanville to play from behind all night long. Donald Flynn scored first seven minutes into the contest before Wilkes would net a pair of power play tallies courtesy of Dylan Kuipers and Flynn again to take the 3-0 lead 13 minutes into the period.

The Valiants stopped the bleeding when Jarod Lavallee (Cumberland, Maine/Greely) got Manhattanville on the board on the power play, capitalizing on the setup from AJ Bella (Norwalk, Conn./Connecticut Roughriders (EHL)) and James Gregory (Darien, CT/Darien High School). Wilkes, however, would get the goal back before the period ended as Billy Berry's shot got into the net with two seconds left on the clock to put Wilkes up 4-1 to end the period.

Manhattanville was able to climb back into it in the second, scoring the first two goals of the period. Dylan Pollak (New Fairfield, Conn./South Kent School) scored his third goal of the week off assists from Ben Steele (Auburn, Maine/Edward Little) and Troy Crosson (Hatfield, Pa./Pennridge) at 7:55 into the frame. Bella then converted with a goal of his own on Crosson's second assist on the night to cut the lead back down to one with nine and a half minutes left in the second. The Colonels, however, would strike again in the closing seconds of the period as Tyler Dill scored with 25 seconds left on the clock to put Wilkes back up by two. Dill would scored again 1:26 into the third as the Valiants were held in check the rest of the way.

Reid Robertson (Plano, Texas/Plano West) was in net once again for the Valiants, making 35 saves in the losing effort. The senior is now 2-2-1 on the season.

Wilkes held a significant advantage in the faceoff department, 49-21. Lavallee led the Valiants on the draws with seven wins. Manhattanville went 1-for-3 on power play opportunities with six shots while Wilkes converted on one of their four attempts, logging nine shots with the man advantage.

Up Next
Manhattanville is back at home at the Playland Ice Casino next weekend starting on Friday for a 7 p.m. faceoff with Arcadia.

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