EMMITSBURG, Md. (March 10, 2022) - The Mountaineers cannot complete their fourth-quarter comeback as Mercer's late goal gives the Bears a 12-11 win. 12 different Mountaineers register a point, with Jake Krieger and Brendan Lantieri leading the team with two goals each. Jack Bauer made his first start for the Mount and got one goal and one assist. The Mount outshot the Bears 46-34 with a 16-5 advantage in the first quarter.
 
Sean Goldsmith led Mercer with four goals, while Kyle Cox had one goal and two assists.
 
Griffin McGinley made seven saves for the Mountaineers, while Colin Kelley made 12 saves for the Bears.
 
Mercer jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first five minutes. Bauer tied the game at one about a minute later when he ran to the top of the attack area and fired a shot that beat Kelley low. The Bears retook the lead at 2-1 over midway through the quarter, but the Mountaineers responded a minute later with Krieger's first goal of the game. Kyle Cullen gave the Mount a 3-2 lead with 3:47 left after nice passing lead to an opportunity for Cullen, and he buried the shot. Krieger got his second of the day a minute later to give the Mountaineers a 4-2 lead.
 
The Mount went up 5-2 when Brian Bradley passed the ball to a cutting Caden Cote, who fired a shot past Kelley on a counter-attack. Goldsmith cut the Mountaineers' lead down to two less than a minute later. Lantieri gave the Mount their sixth goal after he found the back of the net on a tight angle, but the Bears answered 11 seconds later to make the score 6-4 with 6:34 left. Mercer cut the lead to one heading into half on a bouncing shot that got past McGinley.
 
The third quarter started with both teams trading possessions for 11 minutes until Mercer found the back of the net on Cox's only goal. The Mount responded on their next possession when Ethan Holobinko won the faceoff, took it by himself, and ripped a shot that beat Kelley to restore a one-goal lead. Mercer tied the score at seven, with 19 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
 
The Bears started the fourth quarter on a 3-0 run that spanned just over a minute to take a 10-7 lead. The Mount went on a 3-0 run to tie the game at ten. Lanteri started the run at 11:07 with Mitchell Dunham scoring his first collegiate goal on a counter-attack that led to Dunham rifling a shot from the top of the attack area to cut the deficit to one. Kyle DeCrispino tied the game at ten when Bauer found DeCrispino on top of the attack area and fired a bouncing shot. Mercer regained the lead with 4:04 remaining, but Connor McMahon tied the game when he ran past his defender and fired a low shot that got past Kelley. Goldsmith scored the game-winner with 1:55 left after he connected on a pass from Cox on a tight angle.
 
Connor Beals went 8-out-of-16 (50%), while Holobinko went 10-out-of-10 (100%) from the X today.
 
The Mountaineers kick off NEC play against Saint Joseph's at Waldron Family Stadium on Saturday, March 19th at 12:00 p.m.