CORTLAND, NY – The Cortland men's hockey team, ranked 13th nationally by USCHO.com and 12th nationally by DIII Hockey News, saw its comeback bid fall short in a 5-3 defeat to Buffalo State at Alumni Arena on Saturday evening. Cortland falls to 3-2 (1-1 SUNYAC), while Buffalo State improves to 3-1 (2-0 SUNYAC).

Nate Berke (Williamsville/Buffalo Jr. Sabres) and Domenic Settimo (East Meadow/P.A.L. Jr. Islanders) each had a goal and an assist for Cortland. Matthew DeSpirt (Hamburg/Northeast Generals) also scored for the Red Dragons. Colby Seitz (Eden/Corpus Christi Ice Rays) had a pair of assists.

Marcus Cumberworth stopped 41 shots in goal for the Bengals, while Don Powell, Andrey Manov, and Vadim Kiriakov each had a goal and an assist for Buffalo State.
Buffalo State came out firing, sending nine shots on goal in the opening 11 mintues, which Hunter Hein (Peroia, AZ/Texas Roadrunners) turned aside. The script flipped in the remainder of the period, as Cortland sent nine shots at Cumberworth in the last nine minutes, and did not allow a shot on goal in that time.

Buffalo State scored four times in the opening ten minutes of the second period to take a 4-0 advantage. Blake Deacon netted a goal for the Bengals only 1:28 into the period, then Kiriakov and Powell scored in an under 30 second span three minutes later. Michael Marquez scored a power-play goal for the Bengals at 9:31 of the period.

Cortland scored a power-play goal of its own late in the second period, as DeSpirt blasted a shot from the right point after an assist from Berke and Seitz.

Four minutes into the third period, Settimo deflected Andrew Clouden's (Hamburg/Seacoast Spartans) shot from the blue line past Cumberworth to make it 4-2.

With just over five minutes to play, Berke wristed a shot from the right side for a power-play goal as the Red Dragons took advantage of a 5-on-3 opportunity.

Cortland pulled Hein in the final minutes, and Buffalo State committed a tripping penalty to give the Red Dragons an extra attacker with 1:25 remaining. However, the Bengals won the ensuing faceoff, and Manov sent a shot the length of the ice for an empty-net goal to seal the win.