No. 8 Utica 5, Lebanon Valley 2

LVC Starters
Takacsi-Nagy (LW), Hepler (C), Acker (RW), Yingst (D), Straub (D), Eisenhower (G)

Utica Starters
Lajeunesse (LW), Valenti (C), Burmaster (RW), Szajner (D), Carter (D), Baggetta (G)

How It Happened
UTICA, N.Y. – Lebanon Valley's men's ice hockey team saw its four-game win streak snapped at the hands of No. 8 Utica on Sunday afternoon in UCHC action. The Dutchmen dropped the 5-2 contest this afternoon and now sit at 9-8-2, 8-3-2 UCHC, while the Pioneers jumped to 16-4-1, 9-3-0 UCHC.

Utica got on the board with five minutes remaining when Dalton Carter netted a power-play goal. From there, neither team could find the back of the net for the remainder of the period and LVC was down by just a goal after one period of play.
In the second, the Pioneers added a pair of goals by two different scorers, and throughout the period, the Dutchmen were unable to solve Utica's defense, as they went into the third down by a 3-0 margin.

LVC finally broke through in the third period when Russ Armbruster scored his second goal in as many days, thanks to assists from Brennan Thompson and Nick Skerlick, to cut the Pioneers' advantage to two at 3-1. Later, at 7:08, Utica went back up by three when Josh Haskin scored, but 1:48 later, Travis Acker netted a power-play goal from Jared Karas and Brad Nolan. Acker's 11th goal of the season brought the Dutchmen back to within two at 4-2, but midway through the third, Jamie Bucell made it 5-2 in favor of Utica, and the Pioneers eventually went on to win 5-2.

Inside the Numbers
 - The Dutchmen and Pioneers met earlier this season when LVC knocked off Utica in Hershey.
 - LVC had two different goal scorers and four different players picked up an assist this afternoon.
 - Joel Eisenhower made 31 saves between the pipes for the Dutchmen.
 - Utica's Gianluca Baggetta stopped 18 shots to pick up the victory.
 - The Pioneers held the slight edge in faceoff wins at 30-28.
 - Hepler earned a team-high 11 faceoff wins for LVC.

Playoff Picture
Utica, LVC, and Stevenson are all atop the UCHC standings with 18 points, while Elmira sits in fourth with 17 points. Three more regular-season conference games remain on the Dutchmen's schedule.

Who's Next?
LVC heads to Wilkes-Barre to battle King's (Pa.) in conference action on Friday at 7 p.m.

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