KINGSTON, RI (Sunday, Oct. 7, 2007) – For the second time in less than 18 hours, Navy’s ice hockey team fell behind the University of Rhode Island in the third period by an insurmountable margin and could not recover, falling to the unbeaten Rams, 5-2, Sunday afternoon at the Brad Boss Arena.

With the loss, the Midshipmen saw their win-loss record drop to 3-2 overall, and 0-2 in the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League (ESCHL).  The University of Rhode Island (URI), meanwhile, improved to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the league.

Rhode Island scored the only first period goal Sunday, an even strength tally from Stephen Gaffney at 4:36.

Navy evened the score early in the second stanza, thanks to a Jon Westerman even strength goal at the 1:30 mark, with senior Nick Schwob picking up the lone assist.

But the Rams then scored four consecutive, unanswered tallies to put the game out of reach, starting with a pair before the second period ended: Jaryd Coleman at 5:15 while URI was on a power play, and Ben Herring at 8:55 while the teams were at equal strength.

URI scored two more in the third period, the first a power play goal from Cory Pinheiro at 5:14 and the second a shorthanded tally from James Gaffney at 11:55.

The Mids closed the gap to 5-2 when Schwob scored his second shorthanded goal in as many games, at the 16:06 mark of the final stanza.  Neither team scored again over the game’s final four minutes.

Navy sophomore goaltender Eric Anderson stopped 44 of the 49 URI shots he faced, while the Rams’ netminder, Andrew Lisi, recorded 43 saves on 45 Navy shots.

The Midshipmen will be back home in Annapolis next weekend, hosting a pair of non-league games in the new McMullen Hockey Arena.  Navy hosts Rutgers this Saturday (Oct. 13) at 7:30 p.m., and Towson University next Sunday (Oct. 14) at 1:05 p.m.

SCORING SUMMARY

NAVY        0    1    1    -    2
URI        1    2    2    -    5

First Period
RI – S. Gaffney (Coleman) 4:36

Second Period
N – Westerman (Schwob) 1:30
RI – Coleman (Biliouris, J. Gaffney) 5:15  PP
RI – Herring (unassisted) 8:55

Third Period
RI – Pinheiro (Herring, Lang) 5:14  PP
RI – J. Gaffney (unassisted) 11:55  SH
N – Schwob (unassisted) 16:06  SH

SAVES
Anderson (NAVY)    10    21    13    -    44
Lisi (URI)        11    15    17    -    43

SHOTS
NAVY        11    16    18    -    45
URI        11    23    15    -    49