Pitt men’s hockey falls to St. Vincent

Men’s Division III Ice Hockey

After snapping a six-game losing streak, the Panthers… Men’s Division III Ice Hockey

After snapping a six-game losing streak, the Panthers (5-11-3) were looking for back-to-back wins for only the second time this season. One problem: They were facing top-ranked St. Vincent this past Sunday.

The Bearcats have clinched the top seed in the College Hockey East standings with an impressive 16-2 record and have been tough to beat recently.

St. Vincent extended their unbeaten streak to five games with an 8-6 victory over Pitt at Center Ice Arena in Delmont, Pa.

The Panthers struggled to get anything going offensively in the first period and only mustered two shots on goal. At the other end of the ice, the Bearcats fired 15 shots on Pitt’s sophomore goalie Chris Watkinson, who made all 15 saves to keep them scoreless through the first period.

Pitt came out of the first intermission and broke the tie quickly. Mark Petley scored his first goal of the season just three minutes into the second period.

Petley’s goal would give the Panthers the lead for only five minutes before the Bearcats would score two goals within two minutes and take a 2-1 lead.

The game would be tied again when a Panther power play finally capitalized on the fourth Bearcat penalty of the game and made the game 2-2 with more than half the game gone.

The two teams exchanged goals before the period ended, going into the intermission with the score tied 3-3 and the lead changing three times.

The Bearcats went ahead for good just three minutes into the final period.

Despite trailing for much of the third, the Panthers continued to skate hard. Ty Heller recorded two third-period goals, and Zach Cain scored his second power play goal of the afternoon with just two minutes to play in the game.

Watkinson also had a solid third period, making 20 saves in the final 20 minutes. The Bearcats’ attack proved to be too much for the Panthers, as they were outshot 49-23.

The Panthers will look to rebound this weekend when they host Case Western at 8 p.m. on Friday and then travel down to Morgantown, W.Va., to play against the Division-II Mountaineers at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Women’s Lacrosse

The Panthers will open their season with a double-header tomorrow. Pitt will host St. Vincent (Division-II) at 6:30 p.m. and then Robert Morris (Division-I) at 8:30 p.m. Both games will be played at the Cost Center on upper campus.

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