Box Score

ERIE, Pa. - One night after the Mercyhurst University men's hockey team upset #14 Rensselaer by a 5-2 margin, the Engineers returned the favor on Saturday night, winning by an identical 5-2 score to earn a weekend split at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. With the loss on Saturday, the Lakers dropped to 5-7-1 overall while RPI improved to 7-5-2 on the season.

Rensselaer's leading scorer, Ryan Haggerty, proved to be the difference in the weekend. After missing Friday night's contest, Haggerty, who leads the nation in goals, had two goals, including the game-winner, and an assist on Saturday night to hand the Lakers just their second loss in the last seven games. Haggerty's two goals on Saturday gave him 15 for the season.

In the loss, junior Matthew Zay had a pair of assists to extend his point-scoring streak to a career-best ten games. Despite missing two games, Zay leads the Lakers in scoring with six goals and nine assists for 15 points this season. Meanwhile, senior Daniel O'Donoghue had a pair of assists as he closes in on becoming the 16th player in the Division I era at Mercyhurst to score 100 career points. With his two helpers, O'Donoghue now has 37 goals and 53 assists for 90 career points.

The visitors jumped out to a 2-0 lead against junior goaltender Jimmy Sarjeant and the Lakers after the opening period. Guy Lebouef scored his third goal of the season at the 2:52 mark before Haggerty buried his first of the night at the 15:31 mark. Shots favored Rensselaer by a 10-8 margin.

Freshman Kyle Dutra cut the RPI lead in half at 2-1 at the 9:06 mark of the second period with his third goal of the season. O'Donoghue and Zay were able to dig the puck free and Zay found a wide-open Dutra between the circles. The freshman let go of a shot that beat RPI goaltender Scott Diebold over the glove hand. Dutra leads Mercyhurst freshmen in scoring this season with three goals and four assists for seven points.

Mercyhurst maintained the pressure in the second period and had a golden opportunity to at least tie the game when RPI's Jake Wood was whistled for a five-minute major for contact to the head and a game misconduct just 90 seconds after Dutra's goal. However, the Laker power play, which went 0-for-9 over the weekend, couldn't get anything past Diebold on the extended man advantage.

Haggerty made the Lakers pay at 17:51 when he redirected a centering feed past Sarjeant on an RPI power play to regain a two-goal lead for the Engineers.

But, the Lakers would not go quietly. With time winding down in the second, again it was O'Donoghue and Zay providing pressure inside the RPI zone. O'Donoghue found junior defenseman Grant Gettinger, who pinched in from the left point, on the back door, who then buried a shot past Diebold for his first goal of the season and just his second career goal. The tally came with 17 seconds left in the period and gave the Lakers, who outshot RPI 13-3 in the second period, life entering the third.

RPI's defense, however, slammed the door shut, limiting the Lakers to just four shots on goal in the final twenty minutes. The Engineers then added to their lead with a goal by Curtis Leonard at 8:05 and a breakaway goal by Jacob Laliberte at 13:50 for the final margin.

Sarjeant endured his worst start of the season, dropping to 5-3-1 on the year. He turned aside 23-of-28 shots in the loss - his first setback since October 25 at Alaska. Diebold, meanwhile, picked up his sixth win of the season with 23 saves. RPI outshot Mercyhurst 28-25.

There were 59 combined penalty minutes in the contest - 35 to Rensselaer and 24 to Mercyhurst. RPI went 1-for-5 on the power play, with 11 of its 28 shots coming with the man advantage. Meanwhile, the Lakers were 0-for-4 and could generate just six shots on goal on the power play, which included the five-minute major.

The Lakers will return to conference action next Friday and Saturday, November 29 and 30 when they travel to Springfield, Massachusetts to take on the surprise team in the Atlantic Hockey Association - American International College. The Yellow Jackets are a perfect 3-0-0 in conference play this season, and 3-3-0 overall. Friday's faceoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. while Saturday's matinee is scheduled for 3:05 p.m.