PITTSBURGH -- In scoring the final four goals Saturday night at RMU Island Sports Center, Army West Point grabbed a 5-2 victory over the Robert Morris University men's hockey team and an Atlantic Hockey Association series win to boot.

Army, which improved to 4-3-1 in its last eight games at Colonials Arena, erased a 2-1 RMU lead with two goals in the final 2:30 of the second period, then added two more in the third to finish the weekend at 1-0-1.

Sophomore Nick Prkusic and freshman Justin Addamo netted first-period goals for the Colonials, but much like in Friday's come-from-behind tie, there wasn't enough consistency throughout for the home team to get the desired result.

"We've got to figure out how to play 60 minutes," head coach Derek Schooley said. "We made some mistakes. Took some penalties and lost control that way. Army seized momentum and they were really good down the stretch. We didn't seem to have an answer."

Robert Morris (1-2-1, 0-1-1 AHA) has dropped below .500 for the first time in this young season, suffering its first home loss in the process. The Colonials beat nationally-ranked Bowling Green in their opener last Friday, but they'll skate into next weekend's home series against RIT in search of their first AHA win.

The game began to turn just after RMU killed off Army's third power play late in the second. Cody Fleckenstein drove wide and flicked a pass to the slot for Zach Evancho to chop past junior goalie Francis Marotte, tying the game at 17:30. The Black Knights' power play chimed in next, with Mason Krueger redirecting John Zimmerman's long blast into the net with 13 seconds left in the frame.

The deficit grew larger three minutes into the third, when Colin Bilek picked up a loose puck after an offensive-zone faceoff and threw a dart over Marotte's glove. Dominik Franco tacked on another PPG at 14:12, finishing a tic-tac-toe play with help from a friendly carom. Marotte (29 saves) took a seat a couple of minutes later, allowing freshman Reid Cooper to make his debut.

That milestone aside, it all added up to an upsetting end to a night that started with RMU on the front foot.

"It's a tough loss," senior captain Brandon Watt said. "The hard part about it is, over the last 25 minutes, we got out-muscled and outplayed. They really took it to us. The only thing we can do right now is learn from it and come to work on Monday.

"Don't take the loss to heart, but learn from it and get ready for RIT. Keeping it positive is extremely important, but we have to reset and learn from it."
 
Part of the goal for the Colonials next week will be to get healthy. Freshman defenseman Aidan Girduckis suffered an injury midway through the loss, while fellow first-year blueliner Brendon Michaelian sat out the weekend with an upper-body injury. 

"We're a little beat up on the blue line," Schooley conceded. "We've got to get healthy in a hurry."

At least a couple of the youngsters are chipping in up front. Prkusic, who scored twice in an exhibition game two weeks ago, added his second of the regular season with 5:42 left in the first, canceling out Army's game-opening goal. Prkusic buried a rocket shot over Trevin Kozlowski's glove hand off an assist from Alex Tonge, taking advantage of his new placement on RMU's top line.

"Nick is played extremely well off the bat," Schooley said of Prkusic, who had five goals in his freshman year. "He's good at faceoffs. He gets shots through. He's had some really nice goals coming off work down low. We just need him to continue to be successful."

Addamo continued his early scoring pace, too, connecting for his second goal in as many games off Michael Louria's feed with RMU on its second power play. But that would be it for the offense on this night.

In the end, it wasn't necessarily the result that bothered the Colonials as it was how they got there. With 11 freshmen on the team, eight of which saw action Saturday, getting everyone up to speed and on the same page will be a process.

"I think we have to drill down with everyone on what Colonial hockey is," Watt said. "We don't like losing battles. We have a very skilled team, but we pride ourselves in working hard and not losing battles. We just have to drill that into the freshmen's head, and everyone's head, myself included. We might not be as fast as some guys or as skilled as some guys, but we work our butts off."

No better way to absorb lessons than in the heat of competition against a motivated, cohesive foe like Army, which is hoping to post its third consecutive winning season in AHA play. Plus, it's preferable to learn the hard way now than later in the season.

"We gotta play with what makes us successful," Schooley said. "Put pucks below the goal line and play heavy. Play a 200-foot game. We had too many neutral-zone turnovers. Army took advantage of it."

Robert Morris hosts RIT (2-1-0) on Friday and Saturday at the RMU Island Sports Center. Faceoff is set for 7:05 p.m. both nights.