ESTERO, Fla. - Senior Jeff Silengo (Madison, Wisc.) registered a goal and an assist as the University of New Hampshire men's hockey team fell to Cornell University, 4-2, on Saturday night in the first game of the Florida College Classic at Germain Arena. Classmate Justin Agosta (East Meadow, N.Y.) also scored in the game.
The Wildcats fell to 9-10-1 on the year while Cornell improved to 8-4-2 overall.
The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead just 4:54 into the first period as Silengo lit the lamp for the sixth time this season. Sophomore Brett Pesce (Tarrytown, N.J.) corralled the puck at the blueline and flung it in front of the net. The pass was redirected by Kyle Smith (Lumberton, N.J.) to Silengo who skated on to the puck and put it away.
Cornell leveled the score at the 8:57 mark of the stanza when John McCarron recorded the first goal of the night for Cornell. Joel Lowry slid a pass to McCarron in front of the net and the forward was able to jam the puck into the net past New Hampshire netminder Casey DeSmith (Rochester, N.H.).
After 2:30 of elapsed time in the second period, the Big Red took a 2-1 as Joakim Ryan tallied his first point of the night. Rodger Craig was fed the puck by Jeff Kubiak. Once the puck found Ryan's stick, he took a long-ranged shot from just inside the blueline that found its way through traffic and into the net.
With 1:51 remaining in the second period, Brian Ferlin recorded a power play goal after recording his own rebound. Dustin Mowrey slid a pass to Christian Hilbrich who in turn found Ferlin blazing in to the offensive zone. Ferlin's initial shot was saved by DeSmith, but he garnered the rebound and found the back of the net.
At the end of the second period, the score was 3-1, Cornell.
Early in the third period, Agosta brought the Wildcats to within one goal with a long lob from center ice on the right side. The puck took a bounce to the left and hopped over the pad of Cornell goalie Andy Iles and into the net. Silengo started the play as he passed the puck to senior Eric Knodel (West Chester, Pa.). Knodel gave the puck to Agosta for the goal.
With just over 1:30 remaining in the third period, the Wildcats pulled DeSmith for the extra attacker. With 62 seconds left, Cornell's Cole Bardreau put the final goal away into the empty net to help lift the Big Red to a 4-2 win.
DeSmith received the loss in net for New Hampshire after making 20 saves on 23 shots faced. His record fell to 7-8-0. Iles made saves on 44 of the 46 shots faced from the Wildcat offense, earning the win. His record improved to 7-4-2 on the year.
UNH returns to the ice Sunday at 4:05 p.m. to take on Princeton University.