Box Score

ITHACA, NY -  Junior forward Jeremy Welsh scored twice, but No. 8/8 Union men's hockey (19-7-7-, 13-4-4 ECAC Hockey) fell, 3-2, to No. 11/9 Cornell (15-6-7, 12-3-6 ECAC Hockey) in front of 4,267 fans at Lynah Rink.
 
With the game tied at 1-1, Welsh gave Union the lead at 4:27 of the third period, scoring from the slot for his team leading 22nd goal of the season, just one goal shy of the school single season record set by Mario Valery-Trabucco '10 in 2009-10.
 
But 11 seconds later, Cornell answered to tie the game, as Greg Miller stole the puck in the Union zone and beat Union goaltender Troy Grosenick (17 saves) to tie the game at 2-2.
 
Cornell's Rodger Craig scored the game winner at 10:44, beating two Union defensemen down the wing and firing over the shoulder of Grosenick to give the Big Red the lead.
 
Union, which outshot Cornell 30-20 for the night, had a late power play opportunity when Vince Mihalek was called for hooking at 17:31. But nine seconds into the man advantage, junior defenseman Greg Coburn took a cross-checking penalty, negating the power play. Union finished the night 0-for-6 with the man advantage.
 
For the fourth game in a row, Union tallied the first goal of the contest, scoring just over a minute into the game.  Sophomore forward Daniel Carr found j Welsh alone in the slot with a pass from behind the Cornell net. Welsh's initial backhander was stopped, but his second swipe at the puck beat Iles low at 1:12 to give Union a 1-0 lead.
 
Union nearly made it 2-0 on its first power play opportunity of the night with Dustin Mowrey in the penalty box for hooking. With Iles out of position, senior forward Kelly Zajac's shot at an open net hit sophomore defenseman Greg Coburn in the leg and went wide of the net.
 
Grosenick made his best stop of the frame at about the 9:30 mark, kicking out his right pad to stop a Dustin Mowrey shot from the circle.
 
Cornell evened the game midway through the second period with Welsh in the penalty box for tripping. Cornell defenseman Sean Whitney fired a shot from the high slot, and John McCarron got his stick on the puck, deflecting it past Grosenick at 8:32 of the second period.
 
Union had two great chances to take the lead, the first coming right after Cornell evened the game at 1-1. Senior forward Kelly Zajac found junior forward Wayne Simpson cutting to the net. Simpson's backhander hit off the inside of the post and back out, and Iles covered the puck at the 8:57.
 
With 33 seconds left in the period, Zajac found junior defenseman Shawn Stuart cutting into the offensive zone all alone on an odd-man rush. Iles made a sprawling save on Stuart's shot from the circle to keep the game tied heading into the third period.
 
Union will take on No. 20 Colgate tomorrow night at Starr Rink in a game that begins at 7:00 p.m.