AMHERST, Mass. - After picking up a late goal with an extra attacker on, No. 10 University of Massachusetts hockey came up just short of a comeback, falling to Quinnipiac, 2-1 at the Mullins Center on Saturday night. The loss leaves the Minutemen at 9-4-1 overall and ends what was the nation's longest home unbeaten streak at 16 straight games, while the Bobcats move to 7-7-1 on the season.

"I thought we started very poorly," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "Quinnipiac is a very well-coached team and they obviously, after last night, had a lot more desperation in their game than we did to start. That first period was very poor on our part, the lack of compete, the lack of desperation. We addressed it after the first period and I thought we were a little better in the second period and then in the third it was too little, too late. It's frustrating when you have to say 'too little too late' and that was the case tonight."

Quinnipiac took a 1-0 lead late in the second period. Following an icing call on the Minutemen, the Bobcats won the ensuing offensive zone faceoff and Nick Jermain put the puck home from the top off the crease off a feed from Desi Burgart and Zach Metsa at 17:57.

At the 6:06 mark of the second period, Skyler Brind'Amour took the puck from CJ McGee and found Alex Whelan alone in the slot to increase the margin to 2-0.

UMass made a late push to send the game to overtime, pulling goaltender Filip Lindberg and converting 6-on-5 with 2:29 remaining in the third. Junior John Leonard pocketed his eighth goal of the year from senior Jack Suter and junior Oliver Chau to bring the Minutemen back to within one. UMass continued to possess and pressure in the Bobcats' zone to the final horn, but was unable to come up with the equalizer.

The Minutemen ended the night with a 26-25 shot advantage and both teams went 0-for-2 on the power play. Lindberg totaled 23 saves for UMass and Keith Petruzzelli totaled 25 stops for Quinnipiac.

The Minutemen will return to action next Friday, December 6, when the squad will host Maine at 7 p.m. in the Mullins Center. UMass will be welcoming back 2019 Hobey Baker winner Cale Makar that evening, raising a banner in his honor.