RYE, N.Y. – After notching points in its first two United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) games last weekend, the Neumann University men's ice hockey team dropped its first conference contest on Friday, falling by a score of 5-4 to host Manhattanville College.

Jake Davidson led the way for the Knights, registering three assists in the loss. Drew Bobynshyj, Liam Board, Joe Mitchell and Ryan Swain all scored for Neumann, who received 40 saves in goal from Anthony Pupplo.

The opening period started well for Neumann as Bobynshyj scored just three minutes into the contest to give the Knights an early lead. Unfortunately for the visitors though, it would be all Manhattanville for the rest of the period. Using six Neumann penalties to their advantage, the Valiants tallied four unanswered goals to take a commanding 4-1 lead to the first intermission.

Despite the three goal deficit, Neumann showed its resiliency in the second stanza as it began to chip away at the Manhattanville lead. Board cut the lead to two with a power play goal at the 3:37 mark before Mitchell scored shorthanded to bring the Knights to within a goal midway through the period at 4-3. The Valiants answered back a minute and 42 seconds later to bring the lead back to two goals, but a goal from Swain with just 16 seconds left in the period made it 5-4 heading into the second intermission.

The Knights fought hard in the third period to level the score, but could not find an equalizer. Despite outshooting Manhattanville by a count of 13-12 in the final frame, the game would end 5-4 in favor of the Valiants.

Neumann (1-3-1, 1-1-1 UCHC) returns back to the ice tomorrow when it heads to King's College for another UCHC matchup. Puck-drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM.