SARATOGA, N.Y. – Liam McKillop (New York, N.Y.) scored three goals, all in the first period, but the Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey team dropped a 5-4 decision to Skidmore College on Saturday afternoon at Saratoga Springs Ice Rink.

The Hawks were handed their first loss of the season and now stand at a near perfect 2-1-1 both on the year and in the ECAC East, while the Thoroughbreds move to 2-2-0 on the season and in the league.

Saint Anselm came out firing as McKillop scored his first two goals within the first eight minutes of play. His first, which was scored at 5:08 of the first stanza gives credit to helpers from Sean Jenkins (Boston, Mass.) and John Hyslip (Andover, Mass.).

Skidmore answered back at 11:31 when David Limoges sent the puck to the back of the net past Saint Anselm goaltender Robert Kang (Glen Rock, N.J.).

Extending the Hawk lead to three at 16:58, was McKillop – for his third of the night, on feeds from Tim King (Weymouth, Mass.) and Mike Richard (Derry, N.H.).

The Thoroughbreds notched the game at three in the second period seeing goals from Erik Nilsson and Brad Schuler.

Skidmore took its first lead of the game when Jack Even found the back of the net at 2:53 of the third period. The Thoroughbreds scored their fourth straight goal – the game winning goal– at 8:25 when Brendan Cottam connected with Dalton Weinstein and Ondrej Krajnak.

In an attempt at a comeback, Richard scored for the Hawks at 12:46 on a power play to make it a 5-4 game.

Kang finished with 23 saves, while Spencer Sodokoff and Ben Freiberg combined to stop 22 shots on goal.

Skidmore held a 28-26 advantage in shots.

The Hawks return to action Friday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. when they play host to nationally-ranked Norwich University at Sullivan Arena. Stay up-to-date with the latest news, including game previews and recaps, directly from the Saint Anselm College athletic department by liking us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/STAHawks) and following us on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/STAHawks).