Marty Rychley’s first goal of the season put Mercyhurst in front for good, Adam Rivers had a tally and an assist, and steady goaltending from Adam Franck backstopped Mercyhurst up the MAAC ladder with a 5-1 win at first-place Quinnipiac Friday.
The victory was the third straight for Mercyhurst and stretched its unbeaten streak to four.
The loss was the first at home this season for the Bobcats (14-5-1, 12-2-1 MAAC), snapping a 21-game home unbeaten streak and an overall five-game winning streak.
Rychley scored his first goal, unassisted, at 13:39 of the first to put Mercyhurst in front to stay. Sophomore forwards David Wrigley, his eighth, and Rich Hansen, his eighth, scored in the middle period to increase the lead to 3-0 after 40 minutes.
Rivers’ power-play goal at 6:57 of the third put Mercyhurst ahead by four until QU’s Matt Froehlich found the back of the net at 13:22, also on the power play.
Laker junior Adam Tackaberry finished the scoring with his sixth of the season at 19:35.
Freshman goaltender Franck made his third straight start and stopped 30 of 31 Quinnipiac shots. It was Franck’s first-ever action against the Bobcats.
Quinnipiac used both sophomore Jamie Holden and junior Justin Eddy in goal. Holden was pulled after Hansen scored in the second. Mercyhurst was one-of-four with the man advantage and killed seven of eight shorthanded situations.
The Mercyhurst win evened the all-time series between the teams at 5-5-2. The Lakers are the only MAAC team with a winning record at Quinnipiac, having gone 3-1-1 since joining the league for the 1999-2000 season.
The Lakers (7-9-2, 7-2-2 MAAC), began play Friday 11 points behind the Bobcats and two behind second-place Bentley and Holy Cross, but with four, three, and three games in hand, respectively.
The two teams will conclude the weekend series Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Northford Ice Pavilion.
