RYE, N.Y. – In a back-and-forth affair that saw four different tied scores and five third period goals, the Manhattanville College men's hockey team was bested by Albertus Magnus on Saturday night, 6-4. The loss concludes the Valiants' non-conference slate heading into the final week of the season, dropping the team's record to 9-10-3 on the year.

Prior to the opening faceoff, the Valiants honored the team's senior class of Jamie Dorsey (Wilbraham, Mass./Northfield Mount Hermon), Niko Happo (Kauniainen, Finland/Haukilahti Upper Secondary School), Jarod Lavallee (Cumberland, Maine/Greely), Kyle Miller (Bristol, Conn./Trinity-Pawling), Reid Robertson (Plano, Texas/Plano West), and Alex Rowella (Ridgefield, Conn./Holy Cross (H.S.)) who laced up the skates at the Playland Ice Casino in the regular season for one last time.

The visiting Falcons were quick to sour the mood following the conclusions of the Senior Day ceremony, scoring on their third shot of the contest just 58 seconds in off the stick of Tim Manning. The Valiants would chase the lead through the rest of the first before getting a little bit of puck luck 17:41 in while on the power play. Happo fired a shot towards the Albertus Magnus net that took a weird carom off a sea of bodies and sticks in front of the crease. The deflections knocked the puck past Logan Bateman to even the score up at 1-1. Connor Boyce (St. Albans, Vt./The Winchendon School) and Josh Fletcher (Calgary, Alb./Central Memorial) were credited with assists on the bizarre score that sent the game to the second period tied.

Albertus Magnus struck first once again in the second, this time 1:37 off the initial drop. Cameron Weitzman earned the goal for the visitors, giving the Falcons their second lead of the night. The Valiants were hard-pressed to earn many offensive chances throughout the afternoon, but the team was able to capitalize. Tristan Frese (Broomfield, CO/Don Bosco Prep) fired a shot home at 14:28 from Artem Mateichenko (Kharkov, Ukraine/NVK Dominanta) and Marcus Korduner (Stokholm, Sweden/Sollentuna HC) to tie the game up once again. The goal horn had barely silenced before the Falcons reclaimed the lead 39 seconds later on Charles Risk's shot that sent the game into the third with the Vals trailing, 3-2.

The Valiants were able to strike twice in quick succession, taking their first lead on a pair of goals 14 seconds apart. AJ Bella (Norwalk, Conn./Connecticut Roughriders (EHL)) tied the game once again 6:26 into the third, scoring a power play goal from James Gregory (Darien, CT/Darien High School) and Mateichenko. Albertus Magnus won the ensuing faceoff, but the Valiants quickly regained the puck as Dylan Pollak (New Fairfield, Conn./South Kent School) collected a pass from Mason Emoff (Collingwood, Ont./Bishop's College School) and scored at 6:40.

It seemed that momentum was finally on the Valiants' side after the two quick scores, but the Falcons were able to tie the game up at 4-4 at the 8:01 mark with Ryan Colwell finding the back of the net. The scoring cooled off for a while, but the Falcons' Dino Antoniadis netted what would be the ultimate winner at 18:05. The Valiants pulled Robertson for an extra skater looking for the equalizer, but Harley Michaels scored on the empty net in the final seconds to put the game away.

Robertson made a career-high 40 saves in the losing effort, doing everything he could to keep the Valiants in the contest. His record on the year moves to 3-4-1 with a 3.61 goals-against average and an .897 save percentage. The Falcons were in control of the faceoffs all night long to the tune of a 45-18 margin. Rowella and Lavallee won a team-high seven draws each.

Up Next
The Valiants are on the road to close out the regular season. Manhattanville takes on Utica at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

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