Despite holding a clear advantage in even strength play, the Massachusetts club hockey team was doomed by an ineffective penalty kill, as it fell to William Paterson University 6-4 in New Jersey on Saturday night.

The Minutemen (15-9) outscored the Pioneers by a 4-1 margin in five-on-five play throughout the game, receiving goals from Miguel Rojas, Ryan Daigle, Allan Haynes and Jared Stone.

However, it was the WPU power play that was ultimately too much for UMass to handle. It scored five goals with the man advantage and capitalized on several bad penalties from the Minutemen, who took 11 penalties in the game.

“Five on five we dominated the play, even though we were missing two starters offensively due to illness and injury.” UMass coach Jamie Magarian said. “All in all, the team played well, but came up short.”

Rojas kicked off the scoring less than a minute into the game, giving UMass an early lead. But two goals on the power play fueled the Pioneers to a 2-1 lead after the first period.

Another power play goal made it 3-1 WPU early in the second. It added another tally on the man advantage to stretch its lead to 4-1 after 40 minutes.

Two quick goals from Stone and Daigle made cut it to 4-3 early in the third, but that was as close as UMass would get, as the Pioneers scored two more goals to put the game out of reach.

WPU improved its record to 24-2-2 on the season. The Pioneers are the top ranked club team in the American Club Hockey Northeast division.

The Minutemen will look to rebound this weekend, as they stay on the road for a pair of games. They’ll play Siena in Albany on Friday night and Connecticut Saturday night in Storrs.

Ross Gienieczko can be reached at [email protected].