GRANADA, Spain—The U.S. Men’s National University Team fell short, 5-4, in a shootout loss to Slovakia at the 2015 Winter World University Games today at Mulhacen Pavilion. Team USA will face either Japan or Korea tomorrow at 11 a.m ET to determine its rank in the final tournament standings. With a win, the U.S. will finish seventh.

Slovakia jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening two minutes of the first period. Then, with less than six minutes to go in the frame, Slovakia tallied a third goal. The United States finally got on the board 2:37 later when Bobby Bodette (Gardan, Mich./Adrian College) notched a power-play marker to make it 3-1 with help from Joey Breslin (Centerville, Ohio/Ohio University) and Connor Schmidt (New Boston, Mich./Arizona State University). In the final twenty seconds of the stanza, Slovakia netted its fourth goal to carry a three-goal lead into the middle period.

Team USA cut Slovakia’s lead to one goal in the second frame. First at 4:58, Luke Hannon (Buffalo, N.Y./Liberty University) scored an unassisted goal to cut Slovakia’s lead in half. Then, while shorthanded, Chris Joseph (Levittown, N.Y./Stony Brook University) tallied to make it 4-3.

In the third period, with 1:48 to play, Team USA pulled goaltender Matt Cooper (Duluth, Minn./Iowa State University), and Michael Harris (Silver Spring, Md./Ohio University) fed Sean Murphy (Cary, N.C./Arizona State University) who scored the equalizer with five seconds remaining. In the shootout, Cooper stopped two of the three shots he faced, but none of the U.S. skaters were able to convert, resulting in the 5-4 decision for Slovakia.

Check USAHockey.com tomorrow for more updates from the Winter World University Games.