South Bend, Ind. – Minnesota State Mankato is still looking for its first victory in the NCAA tournament as a Division I program.
The top-seeded Mavericks lost 2-1 on Saturday to the Rochester Institute of Technology in the semifinals of the Midwest Regional. Josh Mitchell of the Tigers broke a 1-all tie with a goal at 14 minutes, 9 seconds of the third period. It was his 16th goal of the season.
Mitchell's shot from the wing found its way past Williams after an RIT player appeared to pushed a defender into the Mavericks netminder. Originally ruled no goal on the ice, the call was changed after officials viewed video of the play.
RIT had taken a 1-0 lead at 4:30 of the first period on Alexander Kuqali's goal, with Mitchell getting one of the assists. MSU Mankato tied the score on C.J. Franklin's power-play goal at 10:52 of the second.
The Mavericks had a big edge in shots on goal, 34-19, but Tigers goalie Jordan Ruby was sharp with 33 saves. Stephon Williams had 17 saves for the Mavericks.
MSU Mankato drops to 0-4 in NCAA tournament games, including losses three years in a row since Mike Hastings became the coach. This was only the second NCAA appearance for RIT since the program moved up to Division I in 2005.
The Tigers won the Atlantic Hockey tournament for an automatic NCAA berth and have won eight games in a row.
