PITTSTON, Pa. – The Arcadia University men's ice hockey team returned to the win column Friday evening with a 4-1 road victory over King's College. The Knights improved to 7-8-2 overall and 4-7-2 in conference play, leading wire-to-wire after building a four-goal advantage.
Jared Shuter opened the scoring six minutes into the first period, and Bryce Battaglia added a late first-period tally to send Arcadia into the intermission with a 2-0 lead. Battaglia struck again on the power play in the second period before Matthew Verspeeten capped the scoring with a third-period goal.
Arcadia and King's each won 36 of 72 faceoffs, with Cody Matsay recording a game-high 15 wins at the dot. Ryan Burgess made the start in net for the Knights and turned aside 29 shots, surrendering just one goal. Arcadia went 1-for-3 on the power play, while the penalty kill held the Monarchs scoreless on all three of their opportunities.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Arcadia generated early pressure in the opening period, with shots from Cody Matsay, Connor Williams, Bryce Battaglia, Ryan Cunningham, Jude Cole, Grant Burback, Wesley Crofoot, and Jared Shuter. Shuter eventually capitalized, collecting his own rebound and scoring his second goal of the season off assists from Burback and Russ Tedesco.
• At the 13:25 mark of the first period, Battaglia netted his first goal of the night and fourth of the season off a feed from Matsay, giving the Knights a 2-0 advantage heading into the break.
• Early in the second period, following a King's slashing penalty, Battaglia struck again, burying a power-play goal for his second of the game and fifth of the season to make it 3-0.
• Midway through the third period, Matthew Verspeeten extended the lead to four, scoring his fourth goal of the season off an assist from Brendan Dicker.
• King's made a late push in an effort to get back into the game, but Burgess continued to turn away shots. The Monarchs finally found the back of the net with under two minutes remaining, accounting for their lone goal of the contest.
KNIGHT LEADERS
Goals: Battaglia (2), Shuter (1), Verspeeten (1)
Assists: Burback (1), Tedesco (1), Dicker (1), Matsay (1)
Points: Battaglia (2), Shuter (1), Verspeeten (1), Burback (1), Tedesco (1), Dicker (1), Matsay (1)
Blocked Shots: Ryan Cunningham (4), Connor Williams (3), Burback (2)
Saves: Burgess (29)
UP NEXT
The Knights close out the weekend series with King's on Saturday afternoon, with puck drop scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
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