The Colonels (19-4-1), ranked ninth in the latest USCHO.com poll, staved off a four-goal second period from the Knights (7-17-1) with six different goal scorers to take home a 7-4 victory and advance to the UCHC semifinals.
 
The Navy and Gold scored a trio of goals in the first, with senior Nick Fea being assisted by seniors Donald Flynn and Tyson Araujo to go up 1-0 at 13:19.  Senior Tyler Barrow made it 2-0 in a hurry at 14:23 with help from seniors Michael Gurska and Phil Erickson, before Erickson wrapped up the scoring in the first at 17:18 with assists from Flynn and graduate Taylor Brierley.
 
The Colonels started off the second period with a second power play goal, with senior Tyler Dill getting help from Brierley and senior Dylan Kuipers at 2:31.  Dionne Demke scored twice for the Knights at 4:27 and 9:46 to keep them in the game, but the Colonels replied with two of their own.  Fea struck first at 13:15 with help from Flynn, before senior Ben Stefanini got help from junior Nick Godfrey and senior Ryan Galvin at 14:38 on a play that saw the Neumann goaltender knock his own net off that turned out to be the eventual game-winner.  The Knights swung momentum in their favor, however, with a pair of quick goals to close the period.  They struck at even strength at 18:48 before the Colonels got themselves stuck in a 3-on-5 scenario that saw them score again at 19:56.3 in the period.
 
The Navy and Gold steadied themselves in the locker room, and junior Michael Patterson-Jones came on for senior Nico Pidro.  The penalty kill unit prevented the Knights from taking advantage of almost a minute of penalty time to start the frame and locked them down twice more before Araujo put home the sealing goal on a power play at 14:01 with help from Fea and Barrow.  The Knights went empty net with just under three minutes to play, but a costly penalty at 17:43 effectively ended any hope of a Neumann comeback.
 
The Knights won the faceoff battle 40-32 and barely outshot the Colonels 39-38.  Pidro and Patterson-Jones combined for 35 saves in victory, with Patterson-Jones shutting out the Knights in net.  The Colonels defense recorded 15 blocked shots, while the two squads combined for 15 penalties in a chippy affair.
 
With the Colonels victory and a victory by sixth-seed Manhattanville over third-seed Stevenson, the Navy and Gold will host fourth-seeded Chatham Saturday at the Toyota SportsPlex for a UCHC semifinal battle while top seed Utica hosts the lowest seed remaining in the Valiants.  First puck drop is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. on Saturday in a continuation of a season series the Colonels swept by a combined margin of 10-5.