AUSTIN, Texas – Facing off against a Power 5 team, the East Texas Baptist University hockey team saw their ten-game winning streak come to an end as they were swept by the University of Texas in both meetings. ETBU was outscored 14-7 in the two games and our now 13-5 on the season.
Game 1: ETBU 4, UT 10
Seventy seconds in, UT struck first on a goal by Shaan Greenberg. The game would stay the same until
Kris Perry tied the game at 12:49 in the first. But the tie was short-lived as Joe Kurita gave UT the lead thirty-six seconds later. In the second period, Nicolas Samadian would tally two goals (0:36, 3:39) to UT a 4-1 lead.
Skyler Spiller would cut the lead to 4-2 before at 6:23 before UT answered with two more goals (10:53, 15:27) to lead 6-2 after two periods.
UT would score four goals in the third period by Samadian (3:23), Joe Kurita (10:31), Garrett Cox (17:22), and Alec Pillar (19:27). ETBU would score two goals from Spiller (6:01) and
Riley Knott (6:12). But it was not enough as UT went on for a 10-4 win.
Game 2: ETBU 3, UT 4
The second game was close and hard fought. Pillar scored first for UT just 1:42 into the first period. It would be a while before Spiller tied the game with forty-nine seconds left in the period at 1-1. The second period would see one score as Ethan Chun gave the Longhorns a 2-1 lead (4:58).
UT would increase their lead to 3-1 when Pillar tallied his second of the game nearly two minutes into the third period. But ETBU would not back down as they would rally to tie the game.
Jimmy Brosnan scored at 5:41 to cut the lead to 3-2. Nearly seven minutes later, Knott would equalize the game at 3-3 at the 12:18 mark. But it was Kurita, who scored the game-winner just three minutes later (15:29) that gave UT the lead. ETBU did have chances to tie, but they came up short.
ETBU will resume their season on February 2-3, 2018 in El Paso, Texas to take on the University of Texas-El Paso Miners. The first game starts on the 2
nd at 11:00 AM and the second game will be at 3:30 PM the next day.
