TROY, N.Y. – RPI scored three times in the third period to break a 1-1 tie and defeat No. 14/15 Colgate, 4-1, in ECAC Hockey action Friday at Houston Field House.
 
Tied at 1-1 at the start of the final frame, the Engineers used two goals from Matt Neal and a tally from Jacob Laliberte to break the deadlock and pull away from the Raiders.
 
Earlier in the contest, RPI took a 1-0 lead just 2:08 into the game on a goal from Mark McGowen, but junior Kevin Lough brought Colgate level with a goal just before the 15-minute mark of the opening frame.
 
Junior Jason Kasdorf made 17 saves in goal for RPI while sophomore Charlie Finn finished with 21 saves for Colgate.
 
Bottom Line
- RPI 4, No. 14/15 Colgate 1
 
Won-Lost Records
- RPI improved to 8-16-1 on the season and leveled their conference record at 6-6-0.
- Colgate slipped to 13-7-1 overall and 5-3-1 in ECAC Hockey action as its four-game winning streak came to a close.
 
How It Happened
- McGowen staked the Engineers to a 1-0 advantage just 2:08 into the contest as he tipped in a point shot from Luke Curadi for his third goal of the campaign. Viktor Liljegren was credited with a secondary assist on the goal.
- Lough pulled the Raiders even at 1-1, putting home a blast from the top of the point for his second goal of the season. Junior Darcy Murphy and freshman Mike Panowyk earned assists on Lough's tally, which came at the 14:58 mark of the opening frame.
- After a scoreless second period, Neal put RPI in front just 56 seconds into the third as he put a rebound under the crossbar from the top of the goal crease to give the Engineers a 2-1 lead. Milos Bubela earned the only assist on the goal.
- Laliberte stretched the Engineers' advantage to 3-1 just 2:24 seconds later, firing home a loose puck from the right face off circle for his third goal of the season. Neal picked up his second point of the period as he was credited with the lone assist.
- Neal closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal at the 19:31 mark of the third. Liljegren and Curtis Leonard were credited with assists on the goal.
 
Inside The Box Score
- RPI held a 25-18 shot advantage in the contest, highlighted by a 17-6 margin in the third.
- Neither team scored on the power play as Colgate was 0-for-4 with the man advantage while RPI was 0-for-3.
- Colgate held a 36-23 edge at the faceoff circle. Junior Tylor Spink was 14-of-20 at the dot for the Raiders.
- Five players notched three shots each to pace RPI while five Colgate skaters tallied two shots each.
 
Key Raider Info
- Murphy became the fourth different Colgate player to record 10 assists this season, joining senior Spiro Goulakos (11) and juniors Kyle Baun (10) and Ryan Johnston (10) in that category.
- Murphy's first-period assist gives him points in four of the last six games for the Raiders (2 G, 4 A).
- Panowyk picked up an assist for the second straight contest, marking the second time this season that the freshman has recorded points in back-to-back games (vs. Yale and at Boston University).
- Junior Tyson Spink was held without a point for the first time in eight games, snapping a seven game point-scoring streak that had seen him tally eight (4 G/4 A) in those contests.
 
'gate One Timers
- Colgate slipped to 2-6-1 this season when allowing the first goal of the contest.
- Colgate dropped to 6-0-1 on the year when tied after the first period and 1-1-0 when even after two frames.  
- The Raiders slipped to 10-7-1 in 2014-15 when winning the faceoff battle.
- Colgate slipped to 1-6-0 on the year when allowing three or more goals in a contest.
- The Raiders slipped to 0-5-0 when scoring one goal or less this season.
- Colgate move to 4-6 on the season when being out-shot by its opponent.
- The Raiders were held to fewer than 20 shots for the second time in three games and the third time this season. Colgate is now 1-2-0 on the year when held to fewer than 20 shots in game
 
From The Source
Colgate Head Coach Don Vaughan
 
(On game)
"They won the third period. That was the difference in the game tonight. Obviously it's very evenly matched through two periods. We had five grade A chances in the second period to take a lead and it didn't happen. We started to second-guess ourselves a little bit when (Kasdorf) made some big stops. You've got to give them credit; they came hard in the third. Once they made it 2-1, they started to win more battles and then we've got to press a little. It just wasn't going to be tonight."
 
(On third period)
"We made a huge mistake defensively, we gave up the middle of the rink and they capitalized on that and that gave them some momentum at home and it's tough to battle back. They plugged the middle, they closed quickly on us, and they didn't us much in the way of looks in the third after they took the lead. It's a 60-minute game and we lost the last 20.
 
(On playing Union tomorrow night)
"You have to have a short memory, especially on a weekend like this. The good news is you get a chance to redeem yourself and get the sour taste out of your mouth by playing a good game tomorrow night. It's not going to be easy, we're playing a great Union team. We'll take a look at things and circle back tomorrow morning and get ready for a good Union team."  
 
Up Next
- Colgate completes an eight-game road swing Saturday with a 7 p.m. contest against defending ECAC regular season and tournament champion Union at Messa Rink.