TEMPE, Ariz. - University of Massachusetts hockey carried a 2-1 lead into the third, but No. 16 Cornell scored twice and added an empty netter to rally past the Minutemen, 4-2 on Friday at the Desert Hockey Classic on Friday. The loss leaves UMass at 8-8-2, while the Big Red improves to 6-3-3 on the year.
"We're a fragile team that doesn't really know how to win games right now," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "We're not playing at a standard that I think we're capable of. I still believe in this team, but this was another tough one today."
In the final minute of the first period, Larry Keenan gave the Minutemen a 1-0 advantage with his second tally of the season. Sophomore Aydar Suniev collected the puck along the half wall and fed it out to the right point to Francesco Dell'Elce who sent a pass over to his defensive partner, Keenan for the shot and score from the opposite point at the 19:28 mark.
Cornell leveled the score at 1-1 shortly after a power play expired in the second. Ryan Walsh capitalized on a turnover in the UMass zone and fired a wrister from the right faceoff circle past Jackson Irving at the 16:18 mark of the second period.
The Minutemen then pulled back in front with 16 seconds to go in the frame with a power-play goal from junior Michael Cameron. Dell'Elce fired a one-timer off feed from senior Ryan Lautenbach that was stopped, but Cameron cleaned up the rebound at the top of the crease to give UMass a 2-1 advantage.
At the 6:52 mark of the third period, Cornell tied things up at 2-2. Ben Robertson set up a wraparound tally by Tim Rego.
The Big Red picked up the eventual game winner 12:18 into the third. Ondrej Psenicka and Hoyt Stanley sent the puck up the ice on the rush for Dalton Bancroft who drove to the net front for the score.
Cornell later added an empty net goal from Kyler Kovich with seven seconds remaining in the contest.
The Big Red out-shot the Minutemen, 35-24 on the day, including 15-6 in the third period. UMass was 1-for-1 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. Irving finished with 31 saves for Massachusetts and Ian Shane logged 22 stops in net for Cornell.
UMass will await its opponent for tomorrow's contest, based on the result of tonight's matchup between host Arizona State and Robert Morris.
