Air Force Academy
Robert Morris
Falcons fall to first-place Robert Morris, 7-4
2/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Box Score 
| WATCH: Serratore Post-game | WATCH: Highlightsby Meredith Yeoman
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - Despite landing a season-high 49 shots on goal, Air Force fell to the conference-leading Robert Morris Colonials, 7-4, in an Atlantic Hockey Conference matchup Friday, Feb. 19, at the Academy's Cadet Ice Arena. With the two points, Robert Morris is five points ahead Air Force, Holy Cross and RIT, who are all tied for second.
The Colonials (19-8-4, 16-5-4 AHC) were led by junior winger Daniel Leavens who recorded his first career hat trick en route to the victory. Falcon Ben Kucera finished with two goals on the night, and Erik Baskin added three assists.
Robert Morris jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but Air Force (15-11-5, 13-7-5 AHC) battled back throughout the contest. Matt Cope opened the scoring for the visitors at 6:29 of the first period after wrestling the puck away from an Air Force defenseman while the Falcons were on the power play. Cope skated from the left circle to the slot and fired a shot on net that slipped under goaltender Shane Starrett's right arm and trickled over the goal line.
Leavens' added back-to-back goals late in the period. His first came at 14:31 when Brady Ferguson dug the puck out of the corner and found Leavens streaking through the slot. The junior winger added the backhand finish and, just over three minutes later, one-timed home his own long rebound to give the Colonials a 3-0 advantage. After the third goal, Falcon goaltender Shane Starrett was replaced by Billy Christopoulos.
Colonial senior forward Zac Lynch singlehandedly engineered a shorthanded score just 25 seconds into the second period to keep the momentum, if only briefly, with Robert Morris. Lynch stole the puck at the Colonials' blue line, splitting two Falcons on his way to the Air Force doorstep. Christopoulos could not stop the league's leading scorer who picked up his 21st goal of the season on the play.
The rest of the period, however, belonged to Air Force. Back-to-back goals by Tyler Rostenkowski and Ben Kucera spurred an offensive surge from the Falcons. Rostenkowski wrangled a pinballing puck in the right circle and snapped it home to open the door for the home team. Just 1:13 later, Kucera skated the puck into the offensive zone on a 2-on-2 and ripped a shot from the top of the left circle past Robert Morris goaltender Terry Shafer. On a late Falcons' man-advantage, Ledford stickhandled the puck across the bottom of the left circle and wristed it shortside to send the Falcons to the break trailing 4-3.
Air Force and Robert Morris traded goals in the third before the Colonials pulled away on late tallies by David Friedman and Greg Gibson. Just 1:17 into the frame, Leavens completed the hat trick, slipping Ferguson's cross-ice pass past Christopolous and extending the Colonials' lead to 5-3. Midway through the period, Kucera's second tally of the contest drew the Falcons, once again, to within a goal. The sophomore winger converted an abbreviated Air Force power play, rocketing a long blast from the top of the right circle past Shafer for his team-leading 12th of the year.
Friedman's net-front rebound capped off a Robert Morris breakaway with four minutes to play. Down two goals, Air Force had a late opportunity after Cope was whistled for boarding, but the Falcons could not convert on the power play despite pulling Christopolous from net to create a 6-on-4 advantage. Just 54 seconds into the penalty, Gibson created a turnover and scored an empty-net goal to make up the final margin.
Christopolous made 14 saves in 39:20 of relief. Shafer stopped 45-of-49, taking the win in net for the Colonials. Air Force converted 2-of-6 power play chances, while Robert Morris finished 2-for-3.
"We played hard enough tonight, but we didn't play smart enough," head coach Frank Serratore said. "They are a good hockey team and when you give a good team opportunities, they will capitalize. Our defense has been the strength of our team this season, but we were porous tonight. I like our spirit and the way we kept fighting back, but we had too many demoralizing breakdowns."
Air Force and Robert Morris will conclude the series Saturday, Feb. 20, at 5:05 p.m. MT.
