MILFORD, Conn. - Sacred Heart scored three times in the first period en route to a 3-2 victory over the Mercyhurst College men's hockey team Saturday evening at the Milford Ice Pavilion. The Lakers fall to 5-7-1 overall and 5-5-0 in Atlantic Hockey Association play, while the Pioneers move to 2-10-4 on the season and 2-6-4 in the conference.

Sacred Heart won its first game in nearly a month thanks to a three-goal outburst in the opening stanza and a 39-save performance by goaltender Steven Legatto.

Both teams traded goals in opening minutes, with Sacred Heart staking a 1-0 lead on Eric Delong's goal at the 3:48 mark. Less than two minutes later sophomore Charlie Carkin evened the slate on a delayed-penalty situation at 5:02. Freshman Taylor Holstrom and senior Mike Gurtler earned assists on the play.

The Pioneers then seperated themselves from the Lakers with back-to-back goals by Evan Mladenoff and Kyle Verbeek just two minutes and two seconds apart at 11:25 and 13:27.

Mercyhurst cut the deficit to one and closed out the scoring in the second period, as senior Scott Pitt was set up by freshman Taylor Holstrom and sophomore Paul Chiasson for his third goal of the season at 8:08.

The Lakers and Pioneers played an evenly-matched game with each team registering 41 shots apiece. Senior Ryan Zapolski turned aside 38 shots and helped kill off all four Sacred Heart power plays. He is now 5-4-0 on the season. The Lakers finished 0-for-4 with the man-advantage.

Mercyhurst returns home next weekend to host conference foe RIT on Friday, Dec. 10 and Saturday, Dec. 11 at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. Both games are set for 7:05 p.m. starts.