CORTLAND, NY – The Cortland men's hockey team scored three times in the third period, but saw its comeback bid fall just short in a 4-3 defeat to the top team in the country in Hobart on Saturday evening in a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) contest in Alumni Arena.
 
Cortland falls to 12-11-1 (9-7-1 SUNYAC), while Hobart improves to 23-0-0 (16-0-0 SUNYAC).
 
Morley Phillips (Raleigh, NC/Amarillo Wranglers) and Garrett Krieger (Skaneateles/Utica Jr. Comets) each provided a goal and an assist for the Red Dragons, while Sam Christiano (Buffalo/Buffalo Jr. Sabres) also added a goal. Nolan Suggs (White Lake, MI/El Paso Rhinos) made 26 stops in goal for Cortland.
 
Kahlil Fontana had a goal and an assist to lead Hobart, and Chris Duclair, Connor Lally, and Adam Ondris each tallied a goal for the Statesmen. Damon Beaver stopped 22 shots in goal for the win.
 
Suggs was called into action just over a minute into the first period, making a slick glove save to stop Hobart's Dominic Schimizzi at close-range.
 
The Red Dragons went on the power play less than two minutes later after a slashing penalty on Hobart, but Cortland's best chance with the extra man was foiled by a stellar save from Beaver on a shot by Andrew Clouden (Hamburg/Seacoast Spartans).
 
Cortland committed its own slashing penalty to put Hobart on the power-play six minutes into the period, but Suggs made a lunging save to stop Bauer Morrissey at the right post and keep the game scoreless.
 
Hobart broke through for the only goal of the period with under six minutes left, as Duclair knocked home the rebound in front of goal after Suggs had saved an initial shot by Josh Doolan.
 
Hobart scored a goal on an odd-man rush early in the second period to double its advantage, as Fontana tapped in a shot after a great feed from Arvega Hovsepyan.
 
After Cortland committed back-to-back penalties for cross checking and slashing, the Statesmen added a power-play goal on the 5-on-3 advantage with a snipe from the top of the left faceoff circle from Lally.
 
With four minutes left in the period, Hobart made it 4-0 when Ondris scored on a breakaway with a shot into the right corner of the net.
 
Krieger got Cortland on the board 2:14 into the third period with his eighth goal of the season. Nate Boak (Canton/El Paso Rhinos) knocked down a clearing pass from Hobart, and Krieger was in perfect position to wrist a shot past Beaver and break up the shutout bid.
 
Cortland scored against less than three minutes later, Phillips' fifth goal of the season. Krieger gloved down a pass from the Statesmen in the neutral zone and skated towards the Hobart goal. After his initial shot was blocked by a defender, Krieger fired a second shot on goal that was stopped by Beaver, but Phillips cleaned up the rebound at the left post for the goal.
 
After a tripping penalty on Hobart with six minutes left, Cortland made it 4-3 with a power-play goal. Phillips battled for the puck along the boards in the Hobart defensive zone below the goal line and eventually won the puck out to Colby Seitz (Eden/Corpus Christi IceRays). Seitz then sent a perfect feed to the middle of the ice to Christiano, who had returned to action after grabbing a new hockey stick from the bench, and Christiano beat Beaver with a wrist shot into the right corner of the net.
 
Cortland attempted to find an equalizing goal in the final minutes, and pulled Suggs for an extra attacker with 55 seconds remaining, but the Red Dragons weren't able to complete the late rally.