ITHACA, N.Y. – One night after a gritty overtime loss on home ice, the Purple Eagles hockey team fell behind early and dropped a 4-0 decision to the Cornell Big Red Saturday night at Lynah Rink.
 
Niagara spent most of the first period in their own end, and the shot totals reflected that. Cornell outshot Niagara 18-4 in the first period and 33-19 for the game. Guillaume Therien made 17 saves on 20 shots before leaving the game with an injury. Joe O'Brien stopped 12 of 13 shots in relief. Luke Edwards led all Niagara skaters with three shots in the loss.
 
Cornell opened the scoring less than seven minutes into the game, as a faceoff in the Niagara end creeped towards Therien and Mitch Vanderlaan poked the loose puck home. Vanderlaan helped Cornell double the lead at the 12:07 mark, passing to Jeff Kubiak whose tip trickled past the right pad of Therien.
 
Vinny Muto took a cross-checking penalty on the first shift of the second period, and that led to Cornell's third goal. Alec McCrea's shot from the point was deflected in to the net by Kubiak for his second of the night. After Therien was replaced by O'Brien, the Big Red made it 4-0 with a long point shot from Holden Anderson, doubling their lead at the second intermission.
 
An early power-play gave Niagara a few great chances to start the third period. Edwards nearly had his second goal in as many nights on two separate occasions. As was the case all night for the Purple Eagles, the shots were turned away by Cornell netminder Mitch Gillam, who finished the night with a 19-save shutout. Niagara peppered Gillam in the third period, outshooting the Big Red 10-5, but the team could not find the back of the net the night after a 3-2 overtime loss to Cornell at Dwyer Arena.
 
Next up on the Purple Eagles' non-conference schedule is a matchup with the Penn State Nittany Lions.  Penn State visits Dwyer Arena for the first time in its program history next Friday, Nov. 6, at 7:05 p.m.

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