Pioneer Men Come from Behind to Beat Neumann

The Utica College men's hockey team, ranked 15th in the nation, scored three un-answered goals on Saturday night at the Aud to beat rival Neumann, 4-2.  It was a weekend sweep of Neumann for the Pioneers and their third straight win.

Senior Jon Gaffney scored one goal and two assists and freshman forward Luc Boby netted a career-best two goals to pace the Pioneers. Boby now has four goals in the last three games in what head coach Gary Heenan has called "a must-win situation."

UC senior forward Trever Hertz scored the other goal and registered two points (one goal, one assist) and he now needs just two more points to become the third player in program-history to score 100+ points in a career. Hertz would join UC alums Tim Coffman and Jimmy Sokol in the 100 point club.

The Pioneers ( 8-3-1, 17 points) are now in first place in the ECAC West Division III conference, in front of Elmira (8-3-0, 16 points), who has played one less game than Utica.    Elmira will make up the difference when they play two games at Manhattanville next weekend.  Utica plays only one game next week, when they host Nazareth at the Aud on Friday night.

          ELMIRA SCHEDULE

2/14  at Manhattanville

2/15 at Manhattanville

2/21 Hobart

2/22 Hobart

UTICA SCHEDULE 

2/14  Nazareth

2/21 Manhattanville

2/22 Manhattanville

The Pioneers have now defeated Neumann in four straight meetings dating back to last season, outscoring the Knights 19-7 in the stretch.

Neumann goalie Braely Torris stopped 45 shots in the loss and his record moved to 2-6-3 overall on the year. Neumann is now winless in its last seven games and the Knights record dropped to 7-10-4 overall on the year.