NEW LONDON, Conn.– The Connecticut College men's ice hockey team returned to Dayton Arena, falling to visiting Amherst 3-1 on Friday night. With the loss, Conn falls to 6-6-1 overall and 4-3 in conference play, while Amherst improves to 7-4-1 on the year and 4-2-1 in conference action.

Amherst opened the contest with the first shot on goal, just shy of the one minute mark, but Will McEvoy (Ottawa, Ontario) came up with the early save. Conn responded with the next three shots, but was stifled by Connor Leslie. Just past the midway point of the period, the Mammoths earned a power play and capitalized. A nice passing play from Oliver Flynn and Bobby Luca set up Cristobal Tola in front to make it 1-0 at 12:09. Conn had some good looks down the stretch, but were unable to even the score, trailing 1-0 after one.

The second period continued the back-and-forth action, until the nine and a half minute mark, when the Camels were awarded a power play. Although Conn was unable to convert with the man-advantage, just seconds after the penalty expired, the Camels tied the game. Jack Luca (Milton, Mass.) fed a pass to Will Lawrence (Bethesda, Md.) who raced down the wing before firing over Leslie's glove to even the score at 11:32. However, just four minutes later, Amherst took advantage of another power play, as Cristobal notched his second of the game, to give the Mammoths a 2-1 lead heading to the third.

Amherst did well early in the final frame, limiting Conn's chances at tying the game, but were unable to extend the lead themselves, thanks to some strong saves from McEvoy. Conn grew into the period, trying to even the score, but Leslie kept the advantage. With just over two minutes remaining Conn had a golden opportunity to tie the game, earning another power play. With the extra skater, the Camels pulled McEvoy for the 6-on-4 advantage, but Amherst was able to ice the game with an empty net goal with 30 seconds left to come away with the 3-1 win.

Amherst outshot Conn 36-25, while the Camels held a 41-33 edge on face-off wins.

McEvoy got the start in goal, finishing with 34 saves. Lawrence tallied the lone goal for Conn, while Luca notched an assist. John Russo (South Windsor, Conn.) led the way in the face-off circle winning 19 draws, while Conn finished 3-5 on the penalty kill and 0-5 on the power play.

Leslie picked up the win in goal, recording 24 saves. Tola led the way with two goals, while both Flynn and Luca added two assists. Amherst finished 2-5 on the power play and 5-5 on the penalty kill.

Conn returns to action tomorrow afternoon as the Camels host No. 9 Hamilton at 3:00 p.m. in Dayton Arena.