UTICA, N.Y. – The Neumann University men's ice hockey team saw a third period lead disappear as they fell on the road in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) semifinals by a score of 5-2 at Utica College on Saturday afternoon.

Connor Annett and Nick Minerva scored for the Knights on the afternoon, while Matt Gibney picked up the loss in goal, making 34 saves on 39 Utica shots in the contest.

In a defensive-minded opening period of play, both teams struggled to create much offense. Feeling their way into the game though, Neumann created a bit more offensive punch, outshooting Utica by a count of 12-7 in the period. Despite the slight edge in shots, the game would head to intermission knotted up at 0-0.

Much like the first frame, much of the second stanza would be a defensive struggle. The game remained in a scoreless deadlock for the opening half of the period before the Knights finally broke through late in the frame via a goal from Annett at the 14:38 mark. The defensemen found the back of the net off a seeing-eye shot from the point off a feed from freshman Chris Caldwell to give Neumann a 1-0 lead.

Unsatisfied by the one-goal advantage, Neumann kept its foot on the pedal and were rewarded with a second goal just under two minutes later. In what has become a common theme late in the season, the Knights received another tally from its defense-corps, as Minerva blasted a shot past the Pioneer goaltender from the high-slot to double the Neumann lead. Freshman forward Clayton Boyd gained the zone on the play and threw a puck into the slot finding Minerva, who made no mistake to put the Knights up by a pair.

Unfortunately for the Knights, the two-goal lead would not hold until intermission, as a goal from Utica with just 41 seconds left in the period got the Pioneers right back into the game. The contest would head the third and final period of play with the score 2-1 in favor of Neumann.

Using momentum from their late second period goal, Utica came out firing to start the third. Neumann responded with strong defense and goaltending from Gibney to open the period. The turning point of the game came at the 14:05 mark, when freshman forward Zac Boyle rifled a puck off the post. Instead of Neumann gaining a 3-1 lead and some insurance late in the game, the contest remained 2-1 and kept Utica alive.

With renewed life after the near-goal, Utica responded almost right away. The Pioneers tied the game at the 8:13 mark and tacked on two more tallies in just a 48 second span to go from a 2-1 deficit to a 4-2 advantage. The Knights tried to claw their way back into the contest, but a late Utica goal with five minutes left to play sealed Neumann's fate, putting the visitors down by a score of 5-2. The game would finish at the same score, with the Pioneers holding a 39-29 advantage in shots for the game.

With the win, the Pioneers will host the winner of the other semifinal between Stevenson and Elmira next Saturday, March 3^rd in the UCHC Championship game. Neumann (10-15-2) sees its season come to an end in the conference semifinals at Utica for the second consecutive season. The Knights will look to build on their late season success and continue to improve next season as the team returns all but three players heading into next season.