ASTON, Pa. - The Neumann University men's ice hockey team dropped a heart-breaker on senior night Friday evening, falling in overtime by a score of 5-4 to visiting Manhattanville College in United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) action.
 
Zac Boyle (1 g, 1 a), Richie Brusco (2 a), Tommy Dougherty (2 g) and Thomas Mansbridge (2 a) carried the Neumann offense with two points apiece, while Glenn Florczak also scored for the Knights. Tyler Roy took the loss in goal, stopping 32 shots on the evening.
 
An evenly played first frame saw each team generate nine shots apiece. It would be the visitors who would draw first blood though with the period's only goal. The Valiants found the back of the net at the 11:17 mark to take a 1-0 lead into intermission.
 
Neumann came to life in the second stanza though, scoring the first two goals of the frame to take its first lead of the night at 2-1. Boyle got the Knights on the board off a nice feed from Mansbridge at 5:51, then Dougherty put the hosts in front with a 5-on-3 power play goal one-timer off a good look from Brusco at 7:43. Manhattanville charged back though, scoring two unanswered goals of its own to retake a 3-2 lead with under three minutes left to play in the period. The game appeared to be heading to the third at the same scoreline, but Brusco and Dougherty had other ideas. Brusco took a pass from Barry Kneedler just inside the offensive zone with under a minute left to go in the frame, then fired a low hard shot towards the goal that deflected off Dougherty and into the net to tie things up at 3-3 moving to the third.
 
Early in the third period, it was the Valiants turn on the power play and they made no mistake, scoring on the man-advantage just over three minutes into the period to take a 4-3 lead. The Knights fired ten shots in the final frame trying to get back into the contest and finally found some traction in the game's final moments. With under six minutes left to play, a pair of seniors teamed up to honor themselves as Mansbridge set up an absolute snipe from Florczak from the top of the left circle to tie the contest at four apiece. Neither team could break the deadlock down the stretch as the game headed to overtime.
 
Neumann's best chance in the extra session came off the stick of Danny Cangelosi. The junior forward picked up a loose puck and nearly buried it past the Valiant goaltender, but despite the net-minder looking behind himself, the puck would stay out. Just moments later, Manhattanville would end the contest. After winning a face-off back to the point in the offensive zone, the Valiants wired home the winner from the point to clinch the 5-4 overtime win.
 
With the loss, Neumann (9-16-0, 8-10-0 UCHC) finishes with a playoff berth in sixth place in the UCHC standings. The Knights will await other contests around the league tomorrow afternoon to learn where they will head for the first round of the playoffs.