Army’s trend for late comebacks that come up short continued Friday night at Tate Rink as the Black Knights scored twice in the third period to come within one, but eventually fell, 4-2 to visiting Sacred Heart.
Tim Fisher scored at 8:50 of the third period, while Army was killing off a penalty, and center Nic Serre tallied on the power play just over three minutes later to cut a 3-0 deficit down to one.
However, Sacred Heart’s Martin Paquet scooped up a loose puck in the neutral zone and scored into an empty net with 23 seconds remaining to put the game out of reach.
Freshman goaltender John Yaros made 19 saves in net, keeping the Black Knights in the game until their late push.
The Pioneers capitalized on two power plays early in the game to help open up their three-goal lead. Richard Naumann scored at 6:22 of the first period and Michael Reagan scored at 5:06 of the second. Lloyd Marks scored the third goal of the evening for Sacred Heart at 18:12 of the second.
Fisher’s shorthanded marker was set up by Serre, who finished with a goal and an assist. Serre dug the puck off the left boards and fed a wide-open Fisher in the slot. Fisher made a move to the right and brought the puck back to his left where he lifted it over the Pioneers’ netminder, Eddy Ferhi.
Serre scored his goal off a beautiful feed from team captain Tim Murphy. Serre was camped on the right post and one-timed Murphy’s feed by Ferhi.
