O'Fallon, Ill. - McKendree University DI men's hockey dropped its second matchup of the weekend against Missouri State on Saturday afternoon. The Bearcats scored three times in the first period but were unable to hold their lead late in the match. 

 McKendree began the match with an extreme level of intensity, capitalizing early on opportunities early on to take a two-goal lead exiting the first period. The first Bearcat to score was junior forward Chris Noble, firing a shot to the upper corner of the net at the 2:41 mark to push the lead to 1-0. Noble was assisted by sophomore defenseman Trevor Roehrig. McKendree did not spend much time between scores with the second goal of the day coming from sophomore forward Price Dworin at the 5:05 mark of the first period, which put the Bearcats up 2-0 over the visitor. Dworing's goal was assisted on by the first pairing of scorer/assist-man with Noble and Roehrig each getting a dish-out on score two. With just under nine minutes remaining in the period, sophomore forward Brad Richarson put McKendree up 3-0 with a rocket past the opposing goaltender during a power play. Senior forward Nikita Sokov and graduate forward Aleksy Ivasenko both earned an assist on the third Bearcat goal. The first period featured four total scores with Missouri State collecting a score in the 14th minute, cutting the McKendree lead to two goals. 

Period 2 was highlight by five total scores with the first four coming from the visiting Bears, putting the up 5-3 over the host. McKendree added a breakaway score by freshman forward Nikita Eruslanov in the 19th minute of the period. The goal was unassisted for Eruslanov. McKendree exited the ice after the second period down one goal, 4-5. 

The third and final period for the Bearcats was unsuccessful with Missouri State scoring three more times to push the deficit to four goals. 

McKendree dropped its fourth-straight contest with the loss.

UP NEXT:
McKendree DI men's hockey will be back in action in a local contest against Maryville on Friday, December 3 in Chesterfield, Missouri. 

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