Bridgeport, Ct. - The Robert Morris University men's hockey team completed a sweep of the Sacred Heart Pioneers with a 3-1 win on Saturday afternoon at Webster Bank Arena. 

Sophomore Michael Coyne scored his first career goal with 3:17 to play in the first period. Senior defenseman Robert Powers spring the puck up the ice onto the stick of junior forward Michael Louria, who rushed up the ice with Coyne, dishing the pass for Coyne to punch in his first career goal and give the Colonials a 1-0 lead.

The Robert Morris power play continued to find success, 6:34 into the second period. Junior forward Alex Tonge skated across the top of the circles and fed the puck to Brady Ferguson at the bottom of the right circle. Ferguson looked for the shot, didn't see an opening, and passed to linemate Timmy Moore who wristed the shot to the short side of SHU's Brett Magnus for the second goal of the game. The power play tally gave the Colonials a 2-0 lead, which they held into the third.

RMU took a three-goal leas less than six minutes into the third. Sophomore forward Luke Lynch skated up with ice with the puck and fellow sophomore Matthew Graham in a two-on-two. Graham skated through the duo of Pioneers and to the net before Lynch dished him the pass on the backside. Graham didn't get all of the shot and Magnus couldn't cover up, leaving the puck trailing across the crease, and Eric Israel flew in and batted home the goal.

For Israel, the goal marks his second of the weekend, the only multi-goal scorer in the two-game series for the Colonials, who had perhaps their most balanced offensive output of the season. Israel played in his 100th career game on Saturday as well.

Sacred Heart potted a goal with 4:53 remaining to break up the shutout bid by Francis Marotte, who made 26 saves and collected his 29th career win to secure the fifth place spot for wins all-time at RMU.

With an assist, Ferguson moved one point closer to reaching the RMU all-time scoring record. The senior forward from Carrollton, Texas now has 155 career points, one shy of tying Zac Lynch '16 for the program record.

Robert Morris now has a .500 overall record at 13-13-2, with a 12-8-2 mark in Atlantic Hockey. The Colonials have 26 points and are in third place in Atlantic Hockey, trailing only Canisius and Holy Cross, who are tied for first with 28 points.

RMU hosts RIT next weekend for a pair of 7:05 p.m. faceoffs. Friday's game follows a 3:05 p.m. women's hockey contest between 10th-ranked RMU and Lindenwood. Saturday's game follows a 1:05 p.m. faceoff for the Colonial women, and features Skate with the Colonials night after the men's game. Saturday's game also features a puck giveaway for the first 800 fans, presented by Fruehauf Manufacturing.


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