ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The Mercyhurst men's hockey team dropped a 7-3 decision to host RIT Friday night in Atlantic Hockey action.
The Lakers scored first on a power play goal by Dalton Hunter who found the puck at the top of the crease and slid it five-hole with 3:33 to play in the first.
Khristian Acosta scored his fourth goal in three games to extend the lead to 2-0 at the at the 11:49 mark of the second period.
The Tigers answered just over a minute later on a goal by Andrew Rinaldi to trim the Mercyhurst advantage to 2-1. The Lakers ran into penalty trouble late in the second, taking four minors in the last six minutes of the period. RIT converted on two power plays to take a 3-2 lead into the second intermission.
In the third, the Tigers extended the lead to 4-2 with another man-advantage goal 9:12 into the period to make it 5-2. Steven Ipri netted his seventh goal of the season to trim the lead to 5-3, but RIT scored shorthanded with 3:40 to play and then tallied an empty net goal to set the final.
Josh McDougall, Michael Bevilacqua, Cade Townend, Owen Norton, Georgui Feduolov and Jonathan Bendorf each tallied an assist for the Lakers.
Stefano Cantali took the loss in net making 27 saves for Mercyhurst.
The Lakers and Tigers wrap up their weekend series on Saturday. Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m. at the Gene Polisseni Center.
