HAMILTON, N.Y. - The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team allowed three first period goals to fourth-ranked Colgate on Friday night and suffered a 4-0 loss to the Raiders in the opening game of a two-game series. Mercyhurst dropped to 2-3-0 overall on the season while Colgate improved to 6-1-0.

The contest marked the seventh meeting between the two schools, but it was the first time since November 26 and 27, 2004 that the two programs had met on the ice. Mercyhurst fell to 1-6 lifetime against the Raiders in the all-time series.

The hosts wasted little time in getting on the board after capitalizing on their only power play opportunity of the night. With senior Zac Frischmon in the penalty box, Joe Wilson scored his second goal of the season at the 4:35 mark to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead. Spiro Goulakos and Derek Freeman had the assists.

Mike Panowyk extended the lead to 2-0 at the 9:50 mark of the opening period when he beat senior goaltender Jimmy Sarjeant for his second goal of the year. Jake Kulevich and Tyson Spink added the assists. Colgate was not done in the first period, as Mike Borkowski scored his first of two goals on the night at the 18:41 mark. Darcy Murphy and Kyle Baun had the assists.

Mercyhurst was outshot in the opening period by an 11-6 margin.

Sarjeant and the Lakers settled down in the second period, keeping the margin at three goals heading to the third period. Colgate peppered Sarjeant with 16 shots in the middle frame but the senior kept the Lakers in the contest heading to the third.

Things remained quiet until Borkowski scored his second goal of the night, and third of the season, at the 16:26 mark of the third for the final margin of victory. Brendan Corcoran and Murphy collected the assists.

Colgate held a 10-5 shot advantage in the third period and finished the night outshooting the Lakers by a 37-23 margin. Sarjeant dropped to 2-3 on the season, turning aside 33-of-37 Raider shots in the loss. Meanwhile, Charlie Finn earned his third shutout of the season between the pipes for the Raiders, stopping all 23 Mercyhurst shots. He improved to 6-1-1 on the year.

Mercyhurst was 0-for-3 on the power play while Colgate was 1-for-1.

The same two teams will conclude the weekend series on Saturday night at Starr Rink in Hamilton, New York. Faceoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.