Men's Ice Hockey Falls Short in Comeback Bid Against Amherst

AMHERST, Mass. - The Worcester State University men's ice hockey team could not complete a third period rally on Saturday afternoon, falling to Amherst College 4-3 in non-conference action at Orr Rink.

With the loss, Worcester State suffers its sixth consecutive defeat, falling to 5-11-1 overall on the season.

Sophomore Will Ahearn (Charlestown, Mass.) gave the visitors an early 1-0 lead 4:32 into the matchup, using assists from Nick Patullo (Doylestown, Pa.) and Jake Karelas (Melrose, Mass.) to notch his fourth of the season. Dumping the puck into the offensive end and controlling possession in the right corner, Patullo rolled around the top of the circle dished a backhanded pass to Ahearn at the left dot who one-timed a laser into the top nearside corner.

Despite the Mammoths owning a 19-9 edge in shots on frame in the first period, it took the home team until the second period to get on the board, when the Mammoths rattling off four unanswered scores to take a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes.

Down a skater to start the second stanza, a man in the box didn't stop Patrick Daly from finding the back of the net 54 seconds after the opening faceoff to even the game at one all. Forcing a turnover at the right point, P.J. Conlon '20 hit Daly with a leading pass for a breakaway before Daly ripped a snap shot over the glove of the Lancers' netminder.

Grabbing their first lead of the day just over five minutes later, Joey Lupo logged his third of the year. Stickhandling out of the right corner, Lupo snuck a wrister through traffic inside the near post for his third goal of the year. Sean Wrenn and Greg Krisberg were credited with the assists on the play.

Extending the Mammoths' cushion to 3-1 with 4:55 on the clock, Matteo Mangiardi hit nylon for what stood as the game-winner after a stellar pass from Mitchell Shults. Corralling a blocked shot at  the Mammoths' blueline, Shults caught the Lancers on a change and connected with Mangiardi a step behind the defense. Capitalizing on the opportunity, Mangiardi deked to his forehand and sent a shot five-hole for Amherst's second breakaway goal of the bout.

Giving Amherst a score in all three phases of the game, Daly added a power play goal in the 37th minute to make it 4-1. Working the puck to the right point, first-year Ryan Wilson's low blast was tipped by Daly past the Worcester State goaltender.

Looking to pull Worcester State back within striking distance in the third, Max Roth (Chicago, Ill.) made the most of an Amherst tripping penalty as he drove a wrist shot from the right dot over the goal line to set the score at 4-2 with 8:23 remaining. 

Cutting the visitors' deficit to one with 1:48 on the clock after pulling their keeper for the extra skater, freshman Deiter Stange (Niles, Ill.) sparked hope for the improbable comeback with a helper from Kevin Drevitch (Oxford, N.J.) as he sent a wrist shot from the high slot into the bottom left corner.

Worcester State was unable to complete the late comeback however, as the Lancers failed to find its third goal of the period before the horn sounded. 

Freshman Nevin Tardif (Dunstable, Mass.) was stellar for Worcester State in net, despite taking the defeat in net. The rookie recorded an impressive 45 saves in the loss, as the Mammoths outshot Worcester State 49-18 on the afternoon. 

Worcester State will look to snap the skid when they return to the rink for a Thursday afternoon contest against Salem State for Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Prevention Awareness Night at the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center. Puck drop is set for 4:40 p.m.

#WooMIH

Release courtesy of Amherst College Athletic Communications.