Both the Mercyhurst Lakers and No. 17 Robert Morris Colonials battled in a hard-fought tilt that saw goal after goal, but Mercyhurst couldn’t overcome a slow start, and the Colonials walked away with a 7-4 win.
A few minutes into the first, Robert Morris’ Cody Wydo feathered a pass over to Zac Lynch on a two-on-one, and Lynch went to his backhand and slid the puck into a yawning Mercyhurst net. Just a few minutes later, Matt Cope buried a rebound off a shot from Brandon Denham to put the Colonials ahead 2-0. Greg Gibson also had an assist on the goal.
After a few minutes of back and forth big hits, defenseman Evan Moore crept his way down the left wing and found a Rob Mann rebound and let a blast go over Jimmy Sarjeant’s glove to the right corner of the net. Coach Rick Gotkin pulled Sarjeant following the goal. The first period was finished off with Wydo’s 11th of the year on a rebound shot from the corner off the stick of Brady Ferguson.
“When you go down three or four goals in the first period, it’s a long way back,” said Gotkin. “We never felt like we were under siege at any time during the game. Our guys have been resilient all year, and the quick turnaround tomorrow can be a good thing.”
The second period saw Mercyhurst get on the board via center Daniel Bahntge’s 100th career point, the 19th Laker to achieve the milestone. Bahntge streaked down the right side of the rink on a power play and let a wrist shot go short side that beat RMU netminder Dalton Izyk.
However shortly there after RMU’s Scott Jacklin responded with a short side goal of his own after a hard-fought battle on the wall after an offensive zone faceoff.
Later in the second, Mercyhurst’s Jack Riley continued his scoring streak, banking home a shot off Izyk from behind the net on a power play.
The third period started off action-packed, with a goal from each side in the first two and a half minutes. Robert Morris got on the board first with Daniel Leavens blasting home a one-timer from the point that found its way through traffic, off passes from John Rey and Cody Wydo. Anthony Mastrodicasa had a matching one-timer blast from the point off a Mercyhurst faceoff win, improving the score to 6-3 in favor of RMU.
The game’s intensity picked up during the latter half of the third, with Mercyhurst making it a two-goal game on a five-on-three power play, with Mastrodicasa blasting home his second goal of the period from the point.
Mercyhurst continue to pressure RMU in the last eight minutes to get back in the game, but couldn’t crack Izyk, who had 34 saves on the evening. Robert Morris iced the game an empty netter from Jacklin, who received the breakout pass from Wydo.
“We played with lots of intensity, and kept putting pucks on net in the first period,” said Robert Morris coach Derek Schooley. “It can sometimes be hard to play the right way with a big lead, but for the most part we did that tonight.”
These two teams play again Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. EST.
