RYE, N.Y. – The Neumann University men's ice hockey team dropped an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) West matchup versus Manhattanville College on Friday evening by a score of 3-1.

Matt Gibney got the start in net for Neumann, making 27 saves in the loss. Ryan Luiten tallied the Knights lone goal off an assist from Sam House.

Coming into the game just two points behind Manhattanville in the ECAC West standings, Neumann hoped to get level with the Valiants by the end of the night. Unfortunately, Manhattanville had other ideas. The score would remain level through a tightly contested first period before the Valiants notched two goals late in the period to jump out in front. The goals were scored just over a minute apart, both with under four minutes to go in the stanza.

Neumann would steady its play in the second period, but would not see it pay dividends. Despite outshooting Manhattanville by a count of 9-7 in the frame, the Knights would head to the third period still down by two.

The Knights would finally get on the board at the 10:11 mark of the final period. Luiten scored off a nice feed from House to get the Knights on the board. The rally was quickly extinguished though, as the Valiants retaliated with a third goal just 43 seconds later to regain their two goal lead. Neumann would try to get back into the game, but Manhattanville would keep them at bay and skate away with a 3-1 win.

Neumann (11-5-2, 3-4 ECAC West) is back on the ice next weekend for a pair of ECAC West home games versus Utica College and Nazareth College. Puck-drop on Friday versus Utica is scheduled for 7:00 PM.