CORTLAND, NY – The Cortland men's hockey team, ranked 10th nationally by USCHO.com and 11th nationally by DIII Hockey News, dropped a hard-fought contest to nationally second-ranked Adrian by a final score of 5-3 on Friday evening. Cortland falls to 2-1, while Adrian is 2-1 with the win.
 
Sam Christiano (Buffalo/Buffalo Jr. Sabres), Anthony Bernardo (Hauppauge/P.A.L. Jr. Islanders), and Dino Mannetta (Wading River/P.A.L. Jr. Islanders) each scored for Cortland, while five different players had an assist for the Red Dragons. Shane Shelest (Pointe-Claire, QC/Wellington Dukes) made 26 saves in the first two-plus periods, and Ronan Mobley (Playa Del Ray, CA/New Hampshire Avalanche) stopped all eight shots he faced in just over 14 minutes of action.  
 
Ian Amsbaugh had two goals and two assists for Adrian, while Bradley Somers netted twice. Dershahn Stewart made 34 saves in goal for the Bulldogs.
 
Cortland wasted little time taking the lead, as Christiano knocked home a rebound at the 3:33 mark of the first period after Brady Hildreth (Lockport/New Jersey Titans) won a faceoff and Justin Legault (Oakville, ON/Burlington Cougars) had his quick shot turned aside.  
 
Three minutes later, Adrian took advantage of a defensive misplay by the Red Dragons, as Alec Lovisek intercepted a pass right in front of goal and wristed a shot into the right corner of the net. The teams were tied at the first intermission, and tied with 13 shots on goal apiece in the frame.
 
Early in the second period, Bernardo fired in a rebound after Evan Beaudry (Mississauga, ON/Kemptville 73's) had his shot from the right point saved by Stewart. A few minutes later, Shelest dove and got his stick on a shot attempt by Amsbaugh to make a tremendous save and maintain the Cortland advantage.
 
Mannetta cleaned up a rebound in front for his first collegiate goal at 8:27 of the period after Garrett Kreiger (Skaneateles/Utica Jr. Comets) was denied on an odd-man rush. Ryder Brophy (Franklin, PA/Islanders Hockey Club) also assisted on the goal.
 
The Bulldogs were able to swing momentum in the final minutes of the second period, as Amsbaugh scored on a pair of breakaway opportunities for Adrian to tie the score at 3-3 heading into the second intermission.
 
Adrian took the lead early in the third period, as Somers fired a wrist shot from the right slot just 54 seconds into the period. Less than four minutes later, Somers netted his second goal of the game from a drop pass by Amsbaugh.
 
With under 15 minutes left in the game, the Red Dragons had to kill off two minutes of a 5-on-3 power play for Adrian, and then three more additional power-play minutes after a tripping penalty and a 5-minute major at the same time.
 
Cortland pulled Mobley for an extra attack in the final minutes, but had multiple opportunities turned aside by great saves from Stewart.  
 
Score by periods:
Cortland               1-2-0       3
Adrian                  1-2-2       5

Scoring Summary (Goals-Assists)
Cortland: Anthony Bernardo 1-0, Sam Christiano 1-0, Dino Mannetta 1-0, Brady Hildreth 0-1, Justin Legault 0-1, Evan Beaudry 0-1, Ryder Brophy 0-1, Garrett Kreiger 0-1
Adrian: Ian Amsbaugh 2-2, Bradley Somers 2-0, Riley Murphy 0-3, Alec Lovisek 1-0, Ben Loreto 0-1, Anthony Mollica 0-1, Theo Thrun 0-1

Saves: Shane Shelest (Cortland) 26 saves (5 GA in 44:28); Ronan Mobley (Cortland) 8 saves (0 GA in 14:23); Dershahn Stewart (Adrian) 34 saves (3 GA in 60:00)

Shots on goal: Cortland 37 (13-14-10), Adrian 39 (13-15-11)
Penalties: Cortland 4-19:00, Adrian 2-4:00
Power Play: Adrian 0-3, Cortland 0-2

Records after game: Cortland (Red Dragons) 2-1 (ranked 10th in Div. III), Adrian (Bulldogs) 2-1 (ranked 2nd in Div. III)