SUNY Cortland's A.J. Moyer scored two goals and Lyle Rocker made 36 saves as the Red Dragons held on to clip Hamilton College 3-2 in a non-conference game at Cortland's Alumni Arena on Jan. 15.
Nine of Hamilton's 14 games have been decided by one goal or ended in a tie. The Continentals travel to nationally ranked No. 5 SUNY Oswego for another non-conference game against a SUNYAC team on Saturday, Jan. 19.
Nick Zappia tallied the other goal for Cortland. Michael Lysyj was credited with two assists and Chris Kaleta and Adam Diorio picked up one apiece.
Andrew White '13 and Scott Vazquez '16 -- both defensemen -- scored the goals for Hamilton. Dom Jancaterino '14, Andrew Jelinek '13 and Brian Ferrell '16 all had assists. Ferrell recorded his first point for the Continentals. Cam Gibbar '13 made 23 saves in his first start in goal this season.
Neither team scored in the first period, but the action heated up with 1:39 left when one of the Red Dragon players was handed a 5-minute major penalty for excessive roughness. Hamilton's power play extended into the first three minutes of the second period, but the Continentals didn't take advantage.
About 30 seconds after Hamilton's power play ended, the Continentals were whistled for a minor penalty for kneeing. Cortland made Hamilton pay with Moyer's power-play goal at 4:59 of the second period. Lysyj dug a loose puck out of the right corner and fed a pass to Moyer, who beat Gibbar with a wrist shot.
The Red Dragons (6-9-2) made it 2-0 at 8:02 of the second on Moyer's seventh goal this season. Lysyj and Kaleta earned their 11th and ninth assists, respectively. Lysyj sent a pass to the slot where Moyer converted a one-timer.
The Continentals (4-7-3) cut their deficit in half on White's second goal of 2012-13 with 3:11 left in the period. White scored on a slap shot from the left point through traffic. Zappia restored Cortland's two-goal cushion on his eighth this season and the third of the period for the Red Dragons with 46 ticks left when he finished off a partial breakaway.
Hamilton was the recipient of another golden opportunity with 9:21 left in the third period when another Cortland player picked up a 5-minute major penalty, this time for contact to the head. The Continentals didn't come up empty on this opportunity as Vazquez netted his second goal in as many games, and Hamilton trailed just 3-2 with 8:01 remaining. Vazquez found the top corner with a wrist shot from the right point.
The Continentals' head coach Rob Haberbusch called for a timeout with 1:05 left and pulled Gibbar for an extra skater with 40 seconds remaining. But Hamilton couldn't net the equalizer.
The Continentals owned a 38-26 shot advantage, and were 1-for-5 on the power play. The Red Dragons had just two opportunities, but scored on one of them.
