For the second night in a row, Colorado College squandered away a 3-1 lead.

This time, CC paid the price.

The University of Nebraska Omaha, nearly down for the count late in the second period, rallied to score the last four goals of the game on Saturday and escape the World Arena with a 5-3 victory that earned the visiting Mavericks a split of the weekend series.

The loss dropped the Tigers, 16-12-2 overall and 13-10-1 in conference play, back into what is now a three-way tie with UNO (14-12-6/11-8-5) and North Dakota for fourth place in the WCHA standings.

Heading into the final two weeks of the regular season, all three teams lead seventh-place Michigan Tech by three points in the battle for home ice in the opening round of the league playoffs. Colorado College, which travels to second-place Minnesota Duluth next weekend before playing host to Tech on March 2 and 3, has its work cut out after handing away another should-have-been win.

“It's very disappointing,” said head coach Scott Owens, whose team continues to languish at No. 19 in the computerized Pairwise rankings that ultimately determined the 16-team field for the NCAA Tournament. “It's a tough loss for us at this juncture. I think we really could have helped ourselves. That game needs to be locked up. We should have come away with a win or at least a tie.”

Senior center David Civitarese made a beautiful move in close to beat Nebraska Omaha starting goaltender John Faulkner at 18:41 of the second period after Scott Winkler's steal in the left circle, putting the Tigers up 3-1 and seemingly in command. But with 5.6 seconds showing on the clock, just moments after William Rapuzzi missed the Mavericks net by inches, UNO's Bryce Aneloski scored from a scramble during a delayed penalty call to cut the deficit to 3-2.  

Then Ryan Walters, a sophomore left wing for Nebraska Omaha, took over in the third period.

CC gave up its ninth shorthanded goal of the season, a breakaway by Walters that tied the contest at 2:48. Walters struck again with a quick wrist shot from the right circle at 7:19, with the teams at even strength, and that turned out to be the game winner as relief netminder Ryan Massa stopped all 15 shots that the Tigers put on target in the final frame.

Jayson Megna sealed the triumph with an empty netter at 19:20.

Sophomore left wingers Alexander Krushelnyski and Jaden Schwartz tallied 70 seconds apart before the second period was two minutes old, wiping out an early UNO lead. Senior defenseman Gabe Guentzel assisted on both.

Sophomore goalie Josh Thorimbert finished with 29 saves, including 15 in the opening 20 minutes when the Mavericks out-shot slow-starting Colorado College by a 16-3 margin.