RYE, N.Y. – In the Saturday afternoon series finale, the Manhattanville College men's hockey team led early but was ultimately defeated by Utica University, 5-4. With the loss, the Valiants drop to 6-7-1 overall and 5-5-0 in conference play. 
 
Troy Crosson (Hatfield, Pa./New Jersey Rockets (NCDC)) would strike first for the Valiants ten minutes into the contest, finishing off of assists from Dylan Pollak (New Fairfield, Conn./Selects Academy (18U AAA)) and Nick Prestia (Niagara Falls, Ont./Pickering Panthers (OJHL)) to get Manhattanville on the board early. The 1-0 lead would carry into the second period, as Sebastian Woods (Limehouse, Ontario, Canada/Utica Jr. Comets (NCDC)) would successfully turn away 17 shots fired his way. Utica's Bryan Landsberger made 5 saves in the first period while allowing the lone Manhattanville goal. 
 
The Pioneers would respond quickly in the second period as Matt Wood lit the lamp off a dish from Jakob Breault in the third minute. The Valiants would find themselves dominant offensively as AJ Bella (Norwalk, Conn./Connecticut Roughriders (EHL)) and Mason Emoff (Collingwood, Ont./Vermont Lumberjacks (EHL), Pembroke Lumberkings (CCHL)) would each score a goal within the fifth and sixth minute, respectively. Josh Fletcher (Calgary, Alb./Kindersley Klippers (SJHL)), Hayden Taylor (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Islanders Hockey Club (NCDC)), Dan Barry (St. Louis, Missouri/Vermont Lumberjacks (EHL)), and Raymond Speerbrecker (Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada/Revelstoke Grizzlies (KIJHL)) would be given assists through the two scoring plays. In the 12^th minute, on the man advantage, Utica would score their second of the day, off a shot from Berault who was assisted by Regen Cavanagh. Manhattanville would keep their lead, 3-2, going into the final 20 minutes. 
 
In the final period of regulation, eight minutes would go by before any type of scoring would occur for either team. Utica's Buster Larsson would tie it up off of assists from Brian Scoville and Dante Zapata and less than a minute later, Lucas Herrmann would dish it to Remy Parker to take the lead for Utica, 4-3. In the 16^th minute, Breault would score his second of the day, unassisted, to put the Pioneers up, 5-3. With only 10 second left in regulation, Manhattanville's Fletcher would slide one past Landsberger in net to bring the Valiants one goal closer to possible overtime but as the clock would wind down to zero, Manhattanville would take another loss on the weekend series.  
 
Utica would hold advantage offensively with 40 shots to Manhattanville's 23. Woods ended the day with 35 total saves in net for the Valiants which was another terrific showing from the rookie goalkeeper. 
 
Utica went 45-33 in the faceoff circle. Fletcher had a team-high 11 draws, while Lane Paddison (100 Mile House, Canada/Canmore Eagles (AJHL)) added nine. On special teams, the Valiants went 1-for-2 on the penalty kill, holding the Pioneers to only six shots fired. Manhattanville went 0-for-2 on their own power play opportunities, firing three total shots. 
 
The Valiants will hit the road and take on SUNY Cortland on Tuesday