By: Casey Roehl

Bloomington, IN-- The Indiana Hoosiers fell short of what could've been their signature win of this season after dropping a tightly contested 5-4 decision to Grand Valley State on Friday night, on senior night at Frank Southern Ice Arena in a match-up of top 20 programs in the ACHA's Central Region.

Indiana (13-6-3), is now 0-3 this season against top five programs in the central region, while GVSU (9-8-1-1), ends their six-game losing streak with the win. The Lakers with the victory also secured their third win against a top-20 ranked program this season.

GVSU 5- IU 4

After a scoreless first frame, the Lakers struck first in the second period on a Trevor Zenas wrist shot at the 4:28 mark past the glove side of IU goaltender Stephen Gaisor to take an early 1-0 lead.

The Lakers added two more goals in the frame, one on a Daniel Smith goal at the 13:50 mark and an additional Zenas goal on the power-play with 4:17 remaining in the second to take a 3-0 lead.

Then chaos broke out.

GVSU forward Derek Becker committed a slashing minor with 3:09 remaining in the second, putting the Hoosiers on the man advantage.

With the power play ticking down, sophomore John Cristiano buried a wrist shot past Lakers goalie Dylan Knox to put Indiana on the board with 2:39 remaining in the second.

The Hoosiers added a pair of power-play goals to tie the game after two periods in a span of just over two minutes.

Sophomore Austin Eng beat Knox glove side to lessen the Lakers lead 3-2, then with 47 seconds remaining, senior Christian Schurmann-Colicchio hit a one-timer past Knox to tie the game 3-3. 

Indiana took the lead for the first time in the third on Colicchio's second goal of the game 58 seconds into the frame, 4-3.

Following a Lakers timeout, Grand Valley State scored a pair of goals within the last nine minutes to secure the win.

A Nicholas Beers goal on the power-play tied the game 4-4 with 8:48 remaining in the frame, and a Cameron Dyde breakaway goal with 4:32 left in the frame put the Lakers up for good 5-4.

Knox recorded his fourth win of the season, snapping a five-game losing streak in the process.

Gaisor with the loss falls to 2-5 this season.

Indiana returns to action at Frank Southern Ice Arena on Saturday at 3:15 pm ET for Game Two of the weekend series against the Lakers. 

Tune in to the Indiana University Ice Hockey Facebook Page for the Indiana Hoosiers Pregame Show at 3 pm, with puck drop at 3:15.