(LEBANON, Ill., Oct. 2)—Sophomore wing Nic Rolla (O'Fallon, IL/O'Fallon) (O'Fallon, Ill./SIU-Edwardsville) registered a hat trick, while freshman center Dylan Mueth (New Baden, IL/Belleville East) (New Baden, Ill./Belleville East) added a pair of goals to lead the McKendree University hockey team to an 8-4 victory Saturday at home against Robert Morris University.
The victory helps the Bearcats complete a weekend sweep of the Eagles. McKendree, which won Friday's contest by a 5-1 count, improves to 2-1-1 on the season. The Bearcats will play host to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (Silver) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the U.S. Ice Sports Complex in Fairview Heights.
Just like they did on Friday, McKendree jumped out to a big lead in the first period, netting four goals in the stanza. Senior defenseman Kyle Clark (Waterloo, IL/Waterloo) (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) scored just 14 seconds into the contest before Rolla netted his first goal of the night five minutes into play. Mueth scored two minutes later to build the Bearcats' lead to 3-0.
With just 24 seconds remaining in the opening period, Rolla registered a shorthanded goal to give McKendree its 4-0 advantage. Robert Morris scored twice in the early stages of the second period to cut the margin to 4-2 before Mueth took a pass from freshman wing Josh Hasamear (Collinsville, IL/Althoff Catholic) (Collinsville, Ill./Althoff Catholic) and found the back of the net to give the Bearcats a three-goal lead at 5-2.
Hasamear then tallied at the midway point of the second period with assists from Mueth and junior wing David Coleman (Budapest, Hungary/Fort Zumwalt West) to help McKendree regain a four-goal lead at 6-2. The Eagles trimmed their deficit to 6-3 early in the third period before the Bearcats put the game out of reach. First, graduate defenseman Brooks Boeschen (Belleville, Ill./Belleville East) (Belleville, Ill./Belleville East) scored with 7:39 remaining to extend the lead back to 7-3. Then, Rolla completed his hat trick with 2:48 to play off a pass from senior defenseman Nick Smothers (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo).
Smothers, Hasamear and Coleman each had two assists on the night for McKendree. Senior Mike Stier (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) stopped 23 shots to earn the victory in goal for the Bearcats.
