ASTON, Pa. - The William Smith College ice hockey team dropped a tightly contested game to Neumann, 2-1, this afternoon.

The Knights (1-6-1, 1-4-1) jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 6:15 of the first period. Bek Lucas notched her first goal of the game as she collected a rebound and shot the puck past the Heron goalie, Maggie Salmon. Megan Russelo and Grace Klienbach were credited with assists on the goal.

William Smith (2-4-2, 0-4-2) leveled the game at one with a power play goal from Rebecca Begley. Begley's team-leading fourth goal of the season came on a blast from the point that hit the crossbar and bounced into the back of the net. Krista Federow was credited with an assist on the goal after collecting a loose puck in the corner and feeding a pass to Begley at the blue line.

The teams played a scoreless second period with the goalies playing solidly at both ends of the ice. First-year Stephanie Hampton had a quality scoring chance on the power play but could not solve Justina Mayr, the Knights' goalie.

Neumann took the lead for good at 10:59 of the third period on Lucas' second goal of the game. Megan Russelo won the faceoff back to Lucas at the point. Lucas immediately fired a shot that Salmon had no time to react to.

Salmon started between the pipes for William Smith and stopped 19 shots in 58:47 of action. Mayr played all 60 minutes in goal for Neumann and stopped 28 shots.

The Herons were 1-6 on the power play but showed good offensive zone presence, firing 11 shots on net with the extra attacker. The Knights came away empty on both of their chances with the extra skater.

William Smith returns to the ice on Dec. 5-6 when it hosts Chataham for a pair of ECAC West games at The Cooler. Faceoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 5 and 4 p.m. on Dec. 6.