UTICA, N.Y. – Utica College’s Shawn Lynch scored the game-winning goal with 18 seconds remaining in overtime as the Pioneers swept the weekend series with Manhattanville College with a 2-1 (OT) victory on Saturday night in ECAC West Conference play at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.
Manhattanville (10-10-1, 6-5-0 ECAC West), which had been an unblemished 5-0-1 in overtime games this season headed into tonight, drops its second in a row to the Pioneers and as a result falls into a second-place tie with Utica (11-8-3, 5-5-2 ECAC West) with four games left in the Valiants’ regular-season schedule. As as result of tonight’s win, Utica holds the tiebreaker between the two teams after winning two-of-three meetings this year.
The game was a defensive struggle for the most part on Saturday, outside of a two-minute stretch in the first period in which both teams found the net once. Trent Samuels-Thomas got Utica on the board first at the 10:05 mark, but Valiant sophomore Charlie Ryde (Stockholm, Sweden/Flemingsbergs IK J20 (SWE)) evened the score 94 seconds later with his seventh goal of the season.
That was it for scoring until extra time, as Manhattanville freshman Tyler Feaver (Whitby, Ont./Whitby Fury (OJHL)) made 24 saves and Utica’s Michael Fredrick stopped 20 shots over the final 40 minutes of regulation. Feaver made 17 of those saves during the second period, when the Valiants were outshot 18-7, while 12 of Fredrick’s stops came in the third frame that saw Manhattanville post a 12-7 shot advantage.
Both teams had two shots on goal early in overtime and the game seemed headed for a tie before one last rush for the Pioneers produced a Lynch score, the first goal of his career, with less than 18 seconds remaining in the extra frame.
The evenly matched contest saw both teams fire 32 pucks on net, with Fredrick making 31 saves and Feaver stopping 30.
Manhattanville will return home to Playland Ice Casino next weekend for a big two-game weekend set against first-place Hobart College, beginning on Friday night at 7 p.m. as part of a Friday hockey doubleheader in Rye.
