Loveles, who had been held scoreless thus far, fired a shot past RPI goaltender Ryan Michels with less than a second remaining in the fourth quarter to give the Saints the 11-10 victory and sole possession of first place in the UCAA in Canton, N.Y. on Saturday afternoon.

“It was an evenly matched contest,” Rensselaer Head Coach Tom Korrie said. “They just got a fast break there at the end and managed to get one more in.”

Loveles’ goal was the final shot to find the back of the net in what was a back and forth contest in which each team put together substantial runs.

Michels, who finished the game with 11 saves, and the rest of the Rensselaer defense struggled early to contain an extremely talented Saints’ attack line. After an even first quarter St. Lawrence looked to take control of the game, outscoring RPI 4-1 in the second to take a three goal lead into halftime.

“We were a bit off target defensively,” Korrie said, “Fortunately we started to figure them out as the game progressed, and that will help us if we face them again.”

In the third quarter the scoring picked up, but RPI failed to chip into the St. Lawrence lead as each team tallied four goals apiece, and the Saints took a 9-6 advantage into the final session.

However, with the RPI offense starting to find the back of the net, the Saints were prepared for a Red Hawk run but appeared helpless to stop it.

The Saints’ Alex Moore scored his second goal early in the fourth, but that would be the last time St. Lawrence would find the net until Loveles’ game-winner in the final second.

RPI, down but by no means out, tied the game at 10-10 in just under two minutes as Andrew Teichman, Chris Sherman, Luc Ruglis, and Adam LoGuidice all scored goals, making things all square with 7:40 left in this UCAA slugfest.

“We finally started to connect on our shots in the fourth,” Korrie said. “We had the opportunities all game, we just executed better and took better shots in the fourth.”

James Gallucci, who won 17 of 25 face-offs against St. Lawrence’s All-Conference special teams, was crucial in getting the ball back to the offense during the team’s comeback run.

The scoring would go silent for the next 7:39 until Loveles’ spectacular game-winner, that sent RPI home frustrated, but at the same time pleased.

“We never want to lose, but I was very proud of the effort and intensity of the guys, they really left it all out on the field,” Korrie said. “We did a lot of good things in the game and hopefully we can use this loss as motivation.”

LoGuidice—who leads RPI and the UCAA in goals and points per game—again had an outstanding performance for the Red Hawks as he delivered four goals and handed out an assist.

Ruglis and Sherman also had solid games scoring two goals and dishing one assist apiece while Teichman finished the game with two goals.

The loss ended the Red Hawks’ six game win-streak and left Rensselaer looking up at the Saints who now control the top spot in the conference.

“We stumbled today,” Korrie said. “But we still have our ultimate goal in sight which is to win the UCAA championship[s].”

That may now be a tougher task than originally thought for RPI as it looks doubtful that the Red Hawks—who trail the Saints by one game in the standings and have lost the tie- breaker to St. Lawrence as well—will win the UCAA regular season crown and have the honor of hosting the UCAA postseason tournament.

However, Korrie and the Red Hawks are hopefully and know home field advantage is not everything.

“Any given day in our conference someone can knock someone off,” Korrie said. “We have two games left and we need to stay focused on what is in front of us.”