Seton Hill and Mercyhurst met under the lights in an important Great Midwest Conference matchup on Saturday night in Erie.
The Lakers used a 14-8 advantage over the middle two quarters to take a lead over the Griffins. SHU battled back to within one three in the fourth quarter but came up just short in an 18-16 road loss at Mercyhurst. The Griffins fall to 7-5 overall and 3-1 in G-MAC play while the Lakers improve to 7-2 overall and 4-0 in the G-MAC.
The first quarter was all Seton Hill as they jumped out to a 4-1 lead. SHU outshot the Lakers 14-5 and had a 7-1 advantage in shots on goal in the period.
Thomas Hanulak and
Zack Estabrooks scored just over three minutes into the quarter as the Griffins took a 2-0 lead. Mercyhurst answered with a goal before
Demetri Yerou and
Andy Davis scored less than a minute apart to give the Griffins a 4-1 lead.
Mercyhurst scored two of the first three goals to open the second quarter as they cut the Griffins lead to 5-3. Hanulak and Estabrooks scored back to back goals to push the Griffins lead to 7-3 with 10:49 left in the half. The Lakers scored three times in just over a minute to cut the SHU lead to just one.
McGarity Harper scored a man up goal to give SHU an 8-6 lead with 7:08 to play. Estabrooks scored between two Laker goals as the Griffins led 9-8 at the half.
Harper scored a man up goal to open the third quarter as SHU extended their lead to 10-8 early in the third quarter. Three straight from the Lakers in just over a minute gave Mercyhurst their first lead of the game at 11-10.
Peyton Gensler tied the game at 11 with a goal with 8:53 to play. The Lakers then put four in the back of the cage in just over a minute and a half to take a 15-11 lead late in the quarter. Estabrooks scored with thirty seconds to play as SHU cut the Laker lead to 15-12 at the end of the quarter.
Hanulak and Estabrooks scored back to back for the third time in the game as SHU battled back to within one at 15-14 with 11:02 to play. Each time the Griffins got back to within one, the Lakers answered with a goal to extend their lead back to two. Harper and Estabrooks scored the final two goals for the Griffins.
SHU owned a 30-26 advantage in shots on goal in the contest. The Griffins were also 16-16 in clears and 2-3 in man up opportunities. Each team won 19 faceoffs in the contest. The big difference in the game was the Lakers finished with 14 saves to just eight for the Griffins.
Estabrooks finished with a career high six goals in the loss. Harper finished with four goals and three assists. Hanulak added three goals and an assist. Gensler and Yerou each scored a goal and added an assist.
SHU will travel to Frostburg State on Wednesday evening for a non conference matchup.
