The Bearcats played their first game in Florida tonight

Tonight the Bearcats found themselves on the loosing end of a fierce battle with the Florida Atlantic University. It was the first ever meeting of the two teams, but it didn’t take long for the two to become rivals. FAU struck first midway through the first period and it got the attention of the Cats. Managing to get through the first period only down 1-0 the Cats regrouped during the intermission.

Some early powerplays in the second period allowed UC to establish sustained offensive pressure. The Cats power play was getting the better of the Owls. During one 60 second shift the top defensive pairing or Bailey and Jags struck the crossbar twice and the post once. Just a quarter of an inch and the game could have swung open. The power play chances came and went, and the Cats held strong on defense shutting down the Owls offensive attacks. Then with the second period coming to a close Ben ‘Cash’ Bailey took the puck end to end to bring the score back to one a side.

In the dressing room spirits were high and the Cats knew what they had to do. After managing the powerful FAU offense for the first half of the third, one slipped by. A two-on-one goal put the Owls up a goal in the third. Then another odd man rush gave them a two goal advantage. But the Bearcats were down, not out. They battled the rest of the game keeping up their relentless attack on the FAU net. With just over a minute to play Coach Stoughton pulled his goalie to give the Cats an extra attacker. Off a set play from the face off Aaron Conn sent the puck back to ‘Cash’ who wound up and fired, finding the stick of Will Hunter who placed the puck just inside the post. The Cats were within 1 with 40 seconds remaining.

After winning the resulting face off the Cats lost the puck in their own zone and FAU managed to keep possession and run out the remaining clock to seal their victory.

The Bearcats play a double header tomorrow facing off with The University of California Davis at 1PM, followed by a 5:30 face-off with hosting University of South Florida.

Pictures of tonights game will be posted in the media gallery.