ROCHESTER, N.Y. – In a night that saw a combined 13 goals, it was the Union College men's hockey team that came up short in an 8-5 loss against Rochester Institute of Technology Saturday night at Blue Cross Arena.

Junior Tyler Watkins (2G), first-years Nate Hanley (2A) and John Prokop (2A), and junior Chaz Smedsrud (2A) all continued their hot streak with their second multi-point game in a row. Junior Ville Immonen tallied his first goal of the season in the second frame off a pass from first-year Colby MacArthur for his first collegiate point. Senior Chris Theodore scored his first goal as a Dutchman on the powerplay and sophomore Josh Nixon registered his second goal of the season.

Despite two early power-play opportunities for the Dutchmen, it was the Tigers got the scoring started at 9:43 of the opening frame off a breakaway from Tyler Mahan. The hosts continued to put the pressure on Union, scoring another goal from Grady Hobbs at 14:22 to take a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.

Both teams came alive in the second period, scoring a combined seven goals. RIT added a power-play goal from Carter Wilkie only 50 seconds into the period to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead. Tyler Mahan pushed the lead to four 1:20 later prompting a goalie change.

Union broke through the RIT defense with a goal from Nixon. Hanley dropped a pass backward to Nixon in the slot who backhanded it in. The Dutchmen tacked on a second goal 32 seconds later when MacArthur picked the puck and sent it across the crease to Immonen for the backhand and the score.The Tigers scored two in quick succession to regain a two-goal lead. After Xavier Lapointe was assessed a five-minute penalty for hitting from behind, Union capitalized on the opportunity with a goal from Theodore. Hanley took a shot that Theodore tipped in for the goal.

Watkins scored his third goal of the season in the third period off of a pass from Smedsrud, firing a shot through traffic. The Tigers tallied two more goals to extend the lead in the final minutes. With under 20 seconds to go, Watkins scored his second of the game and fourth this week.

Union went 1-for-5 on the powerplay while RIT went 2-for-4 with the player advantage.

Senior Connor Murphy made 15 saves in 21:58 of game time. First-year Kyle Chauvette is tagged with the loss, surrendering three goals in 37:11 minutes. Tommy Scarfone earns the win for the Tigers with 27 wins.

Union will be on the road again this week with a trip across the border for a weekend series with #13/14 UMass starting Friday. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the Mullins Center.