ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Another night, another hero for the Mercyhurst University men's hockey team.

Senior forward Zac Frischmon scored at the 3:04 mark of overtime on a blast from the right wing to lift the Lakers to a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the top-seeded Colonials of Robert Morris in the first Atlantic Hockey Conference semifinal on Friday at the Blue Cross Arena. With the win, the Lakers improved to 19-15-4 overall while the Colonials ended their season with a 24-8-5 overall record.

Frischmon became the 14th different player to score a game-winning goal this season as the Mercyhurst seniors have now scored all eleven goals during the team's postseason run.

More importantly, Mercyhurst will have an opportunity to play for the conference championship and the league's automatic bid on Saturday night against RIT, a 2-1 winner over Canisius in the second semifinal. The contest will take place at 7:05 p.m.

"I was getting towards the end of my shift," said Frischmon about his game-winner at the league's post-game press conference. "I was thinking about changing, but Nardo (Nagtzaam) passed me the puck up the right wing, so I decided to take a shot."

And, that shot sent the Lakers to the title game for the second time in the last three seasons.

Junior Anthony Mastrodicasa had the other assist on the game-winner – his second helper of the contest.

Mercyhurst trailed 3-2 after Robert Morris' Scott Jacklin gave the Colonials their first lead of the game with 5:19 left in regulation, jamming home a rebound past freshman goaltender Brandon Wildung, for his 14th goal of the season. John Rey and Brandon Denham had the assists.

But, Mercyhurst head coach Rick Gotkin was able to pull Wildung with 1:29 left to set up another comeback.

Senior Chris Bodo, who scored three goals in the Lakers' two games-to-one series win at Bentley last weekend, buried a loose puck behind Robert Morris goaltender Dalton Izyk for his 12th goal of the season with 35.5 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 3-3. Seniors Matthew Zay and Kyle Just picked up the helpers on the equalizer.

Frischmon's game-winner was his first of the season and the third of his career. The goal made Wildung a winner in what was a miraculous performance as the freshman turned aside a collegiate-high 59 shots in the contest. Robert Morris outshot Mercyhurst, 62-29, during the game.

"Robert Morris is a very good team and those guys were throwing everything at us," said Wildung. "I just tried to make the first save and kept focused. Our defensemen did a great job of clearing away pucks, so there weren't a lot of close-range second chances."

Wildung hails from Nassau, Minnesota – a town of 74 people. He jokingly mentioned afterwards that he almost had one save for every person in his hometown. "The number of saves I had was definitely up there in terms of most in my career. I almost got one for all of my townspeople."

"It was right up there," said Gotkin about Wildung's epic performance on Friday. "I've been around this game a long time and I've seen some great goaltenders – both for us and against us. Brandon (Wildung)'s performance was certainly one of the best I've seen."

What makes the performance even more fitting was the fact that Wildung was unlikely to play a lot entering his rookie campaign. But, the loss of senior Jimmy Sarjeant, who was the Atlantic Hockey Goaltender and Player of the Year last season, gave Wildung the opportunity.

"The loss of Jimmy (Sarjeant) certainly was unfortunate and we definitely miss him," said Gotkin. "But, if there was a silver lining, it was the timing of his injury. It's given Brandon an opportunity to learn on the job and he was brilliant tonight."

The first period was wide open, featuring three power play goals, and a total of 30 combined shots on goal.

With Robert Morris' Hobey Baker Award finalist, Cody Wydo in the penalty box, Mercyhurst jumped in front, 1-0, when senior forward Kyle Just ripped a shot from the left wing circle that beat Izyk for his 13th goal of the season. Mastrodicasa and senior Daniel Bahntge had the assists on the goal at the 4:47 mark.

Then, just 13 seconds later, the Colonials' David Friedmann was sent to the penalty box and Mercyhurst, again, took advantage. After some back-and-forth passing just inside the Robert Morris blue line, senior defenseman Ryan Misiak broke free and fired a shot from the left wing circle that beat Izyk to the blocker side for his eighth goal of the season at 6:50. Seniors Nagtzaam and Tyler Shiplo had the helpers.

Zay was sent to the penalty box just 45 seconds later, and, this time, it was the Colonials' time to take advantage. The puck squirted through the crease and Zac Lynch was there on the doorstep to bang home his 18th goal of the season at the 8:12 mark. Greg Gibson and Scott Jacklin had the assists.

Robert Morris held a 17-13 shot advantage in the first period.

The top-seeded Colonials threw everything at the Lakers and freshman goaltender Brandon Wildung in the second period, outshooting Mercyhurst, 27-6, in the middle stanza.

However, after Wildung made a number of huge saves during the period, Robert Morris finally knotted the score at 2-2 with 40.4 seconds left in the second on a Wydo wraparound that went off the skate of senior Grant Gettinger and trickled across the goal line. It was Wydo's 20th goal of the season and set the stage for an exciting third period.

Gettinger finished the contest with a game-high seven blocked shots. "Right now, we have a never say die attitude," said the senior defenseman. "We don't lose faith in one another and we back each other up when we make mistakes. We keep doing the little things and lately, those little things have led to big things."

Wildung stopped 25 shots in the second period and turned aside 42-of-44 Robert Morris shots through forty minutes. Meanwhile, Izyk stopped 17-of-19 through two periods.

"I want to congratulate head coach Derek Schooley and the Colonials for a tremendous season," said Gotkin. "We were in their position a year ago – being the top seed – and Canisius beat us in the semifinals. It still doesn't take away what that team did this year and we are very fortunate to be playing one more game."

The Lakers will have an opportunity to play for the Atlantic Hockey Conference Championship on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. against either Canisius or RIT – teams that Mercyhurst went 0-5-1 against this season.

But, as Gotkin said, "not a lot of people expected us to get past Bentley last weekend. Not a lot of people gave us a chance to win today. And, now, we have a chance to play for a title tomorrow."

A win would give the Lakers their first title, and first trip to the NCAA Tournament, since 2005.

"We entered this weekend thinking we were playing with house money," said Gotkin. "Why can't we do it one more time?"