SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College men's hockey team opened the 2023 slate with a 6-1 loss to #17/18 Cornell University Friday night at Messa Rink.

Senior Owen Farris scored his fourth goal of the season marking a new career-high. Sophomore Cullen Ferguson and junior Nic Petruolo each recorded an assist. 

Senior Connor Murphy made 20 saves on the night, moving ahead of Keith Kinkaid for 10th place all-time in Union's DI career saves list. Murphy now has 1,509 saves in his time at Union. 

The Big Red jumped out to a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes of play. Sebastian Dirven found the back of the net for the visitors only 1:32 into the frame. Tim Rego scored on a wraparound to beat Murphy stick side before Ben Berard extended the lead with 1:03 to play.

Union cut the lead to two goals at 13:02 of the second stanza. Ferguson fired a shot from the blue line and Farris jammed the puck under Ian Shane's pad for his fourth goal of the season. The Big Red added a pair of power-play goals in a span of 28 seconds to make it a 5-1 game. Jack Malone added one more in the second period to give Cornell at 6-1 lead going into the second intermission.

Coming out of the break, first-year Kyle Chauvette took over between the pipes, making several big stops in the third period. Chauvette finished the game with five saves in 20 minutes of action.

Union looks to bounce back tomorrow against Colgate University. Puck drop is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at Messa Rink.