BISMARCK, N.D. – The #18 University of Providence hockey team fell to the top-ranked University of Mary 4-2 Monday evening.

The Marauders got on the board first, scoring two goals in the first period. The game remained 2-0 until 5 minutes into the second period, when Reed Link found the back of the net for his first goal of the year off the assist from Will Wright.

Down 2-1, Ty Alger scored a goal off the assist from Cody Hendrickson to tie the game at 2-2. The Marauders found the back of the net not two minutes later to take a one goal lead. Nobody scored another goal until the Argos pulled their goalie and the Marauders scored an empty net goal.

"I'm really encouraged by what I saw tonight," head coach Jeff Heimel said. "You want your team to be playing better when you get closer to the end. On that level I'm very pleased. Obviously we lost, but I think we did a lot of things well. I think we're only going to get better moving forward."

The Argos, currently two seeds out of the seed they'd need to make the National Tournament, will get two more chances at the top-seeded in the country when the Marauders come to Great Falls for a pair of games over the weekend. If they want to come away with a win, they'll have to work on coming out strong.

"We need to start better," Heimel said. "We went down two goals early. We didn't play very good hockey in the first little bit and once we got it together it was hard to separate the teams. We need to play a full 60 minutes. I do think we did a lot of good things, we just need to have a little bit more focus in a few areas to really solidify the kind of hockey we can play."

Before the rematch, the Argos will play two more games, all of which are critical as the end of the season draws closer. The Argos will take on Williston State tomorrow night before playing #6 Dakota College of Bottineau in a neutral site game in Sidney, Mont.

"They're ready," Heimel said. "They know what they need to do. We're just going to take care of ourselves and rest. They're ready to go."