PLATTSBURGH — Getting to the NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Final Four is an achievement in itself.

Plattsburgh State, national runner-up last season, is one win away from making it two Final Four trips in a row.

The Cardinals host battle-tested Neumann College at 7 p.m. tonight in NCAA Division III Tournament quarterfinal action at the Stafford Ice Arena. The winner moves on to next weekend's Final Four at the 1980 Olympic Rink in Lake Placid.

"The last two weekends, we knew we still had hockey left to be played if we didn't win," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery.

"But, now we need to have the fear of losing. One team is going to have its season come to an end. Our practices have been great this week and the players know they have to be good — or go home."

The top-ranked Cardinals bring a 24-1-2 overall record into the game.

"It's an exciting time for us," Emery said. "We're going to be playing in front of a great crowd.

"The game has been sold out since Monday, but there might be some tickets left from the students who are not here and also some returned tickets from Neumann."

The Knights advanced to the Division III Tournament by winning the ECAC West Tournament.

Neumann went 0-3-1 against Elmira in the regular season before edging the host Soaring Eagles, 2-1, in the ECAC West semifinals. Then, in the championship game this past weekend, the Knights skated to a 3-2 victory at Hobart.

Neumann advanced to the Division III quarterfinals with Wednesday's 2-1 victory at Elmira.

"They won three games on the road against great teams to get here," Emery said. "Anytime you're playing this late in the season, you have your work cut out for you no matter who the opponent is.

"Neumann has won six games in a row and eight of its last 10. They're peaking at the right time of the year."

The only meeting between Plattsburgh State and Neumann ended with the Knights recording a 4-3 overtime win in the championship game of the Cardinal Classic in 2006-07.

"From a team perspective, it doesn't really matter who we play because both teams are great hockey teams," Emery said. "It's better from a fan's perspective to see new teams.

"But, Neumann is going to be a harder team for us because of the way they have been playing. They play well with the lead and still have a couple of highly-skilled players left from when we last played them. They can play with anyone."

The Cardinals skated to a rousing 5-4 overtime win over Oswego last Saturday in the SUNYAC Tournament finals at the Stafford Ice Arena.

But, despite the emotional win, Emery felt not all was right with his team at the start.

"We didn't come out of the gate the way we should have," he said.

Last season, the Cardinals skated to a 5-2 home win over Hobart in the Division III quarterfinals and moved on to the Final Four where they posted a 6-3 victory over Elmira in the semifinals before dropping a 2-0 decision to St. Norbert in the championship game.

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Neumann College

Overall record: 18-9-2 (123 goals for-89 goals against)

ECAC West: 8-5-2 (70 goals for-52 goals against)

Home: 6-3-0 (46 goals for-28 goals against)

Away: 11-5-2 (69 goals for-56 goals against)

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Individual scoring

Player g a pts

Matt Ward, Jr. F 20 18 38

Kyle Casey, Sr. F 9 28 37

Mike Hedden, Sr. F 16 18 34

Marlon Gardner, Fr. F 15 16 31

Jesse Cole, Sr. F 14 13 27

E. Stoyanovich, Sr. F 11 10 21

Jeremy Gates, Fr. D 2 17 19

C. Petterson, Jr. D 4 14 18

Ryan Heickert, Sr. F 4 10 14

Donovan Hall, Sr. F 3 9 12

Matthew Valois, Fr. F 4 4 8

Stewart Sjoberg, Sr. F 3 4 7

Brock Van Slyke, Sr. D 3 4 7

Nicolas Lapierre, Fr. D 2 5 7

Sean Bianchini, So. D 1 6 7

Kaleigh Schrock, Sr. F 3 3 6

Dave Gooch, Jr. D 1 5 6

Bill Foster, Fr. F 2 3 5

Jeff Rodell, So. D 2 3 5

Jesper Hultman, Fr. F 2 2 4

Joe Dolan, So. F 1 1 2

Jon Cristini, Fr. F 1 1 2

Danil Guryev, Fr. D 0 2 2

Doug Slipacoff, Sr. D 0 22

Matt Tendler, Fr. G 0 1 1

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Goaltending

Goalie w l t gaa

Ross MacKinnon, Fr. 13 7 2 2.62

Matt Tendler, Fr. 4 1 0 3.41

Jordan Erickson, Sr. 1 1 0 4.83

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Plattsburgh State
Overall record: 24-1-2 (131 goals for-49 goals against)

SUNYAC: 15-0-1 (81 goals for-25 goals against)

Home: 16-0-0 (78 goals for-27 goals against)

Away: 7-1-1 (45 goals for-16 goals against)

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Individual scoring

Player g a pts

Dylan Clarke, So. F 16 23 39

Joey Wilson, Sr. F 22 16 38

Phil Farrow, Jr. F 10 26 36

Riley Hill, Sr. F 14 18 32

Eric Satim, So. F 11 17 28

Nick Rolls, Sr. D 5 23 28

Ryan Corry, So. D 5 19 24

Kyle Kudroch, Fr. F 10 5 15

Dan Sliasis, So. F 4 10 14

Andrew Willock, Jr. F 6 7 13

Ward Smith, Jr. D 4 9 13

Kyle Taylor, Fr. F 6 5 11

Vick Schlueter, Fr. F 5 5 10

Mike Kavanagh, Fr. D 4 6 10

K. VanderMale, So. F 2 7 9

Eric Greene, Sr. D 3 5 8

Shawn Dennis, Sr. F 2 46

Tom Breslin, Jr. D 1 4 5

Corey John, Fr. F 1 2 3

Ryan Burke, Sr. D 0 3 3

Peter Kaliscik, Fr. F 0 3 3

Greg Fosso, Fr. F 0 1 1

Bryan Hince, So. G 0 1 1

Matty MacLeod, Fr. D 0 1 1

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Goaltending

Goalie w l t gaa

Bryan Hince, So. 22 1 2 1.51

Chris Molinaro, Sr. 2 0 0 1.78