UTICA, N.Y. – Junior Darren McCormick (Buffalo/Buffalo Jr. Sabres) scored a pair of goals to help lead the Cortland men’s hockey team to a 4-2 upset victory at nationally seventh-ranked Utica College Friday night in non-conference action. The Red Dragons improved to 4-5 with the win, while the Pioneers dropped third third straight game and fell to 8-3.
Junior Paul Fregeau (Los Angeles, CA/Des Moines Buccaneers) and freshman Wilson Vershay (Buffalo/Buffalo Jr. Sabres) each added goals for Cortland. Junior Cory Lauer (Mt. Juliet, TN/Toronto Lakeshore Patriots), sophomores Sean Brown (East Amherst/Northern Cyclones) and MIke Crowley (Buffalo/Springfield Blues) and freshmen Sean Perichak (Oakville, ON/Markham Royals) and Aidan Salerno (East Atlantic Beach/Soo Thunderbirds) collected one assist apiece. Junior goalie Drew WEigman (Annapolis, MD/Northern Cyclones) registered 34 saves.
Zach Borsoi and Mikhail Bushinski each netted a power-play goal for Utica, Alex Roberts, Connor Schmidt, Brett Szajner and Roman Ammirato recorded one assist apiece. Patrik Virtanen started in goal, making eight saves in 23:22. Gianluca Baggetta stopped 15 shots in 33:45.
McCormick set a program record by scoring his first goal of the night just seven seconds into the game on an unassisted effort. Fregeau made it a 2-0 score at 2:26 of the second period, and McCormick added his second goal of the game just 56 seconds later to put Cortland ahead 3-0, Utica got on the scoreboard at 7:43 with Borsoi’s power-play goal, but Vershay made it a 4-1 score with a man-advantage goal 1:27 before the end of the period.
In a penalty-filler third period, the Pioneers scored the lone goal by Bushinski at 19:29 while on a two-man advantage and with an extra skater to pull to within 4-2.
Cortland hosts Nazareth College on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Alumni Arena.
Cortland 4, Utica 2
Score by periods:
Cortland 1-3-0 4
Utica 0-1-1 2
Scoring Summary (Goals-Assists)
Cortland: Darren McCormick 2-0, Wilson Vershay 1-0, Paul Fregeau 1-0, Cory Lauer 0-1, Sean Brown 0-1, Sean Perichak 0-1, Aidan Salerno 0-1, Mike Crowley 0-1
Utica: Zach Borsoi 1-0, Mikhail Bushinski 1-0, Alex Roberts 0-1, Connor Schmidt 0-1, Brett Szajner 0-1, Roman Ammirato 0-1
Saves: Drew Weigman (Cortland) 34 saves (2 GA in 60:00); Patrik Virtanen (Utica) 8 saves (3 GA in 23:22), Gianluca Baggetta (Utica) 15 saves (1 GA in 33:45), Empty Net 2:53
Shots on Goal: Utica 36 (16-12-8), Cortland 27 (9-11-7)
Penalties: Cortland 11-57:00, Utica 6-28
Power Play: Utica 2-7, Cortland 1-3
Records after game: Cortland (Red Dragons) 4-5; Utica (Pioneers) 8-3 (ranked 7th in Div. III)
