(ST. LOUIS, Mo., Sept. 12)—The McKendree University hockey team dropped a 4-3 decision Saturday on the road against Saint Louis University.

McKendree slipped to 0-1-1 on the season and have some time off before opening the home portion of its schedule Oct. 1 against Robert Morris University. Face-off is set for 7:30 p.m. at the U.S. Ice Sports Complex in Fairview Heights.

Sophomore wing Nic Rolla (O'Fallon, IL/O'Fallon) (O'Fallon, Ill./SIU-Edwardsville) scored two of the three goals for the Bearcats. Rolla give McKendree a 1-0 lead midway through the first period with senior defenseman Kyle Clark (Waterloo, IL/Waterloo) (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) and junior defenseman Ryan Donahue (Levittown, Pa./Truman) (Levittown, Pa./Truman) picking up the assists.

The host Billikens scored twice later in the period to grab a 2-1 lead, but Rolla's second goal of the afternoon with just seven seconds left in the stanza allowed McKendree to pull even at 2-2. Rolla's second tally was assisted by junior wing J. David Coleman (Budapest, Hungary/Fort Zumwalt West) (Budapest, Hungary/Fort Zumwalt West) and senior defenseman Alec Steiner (Swansea, Ill./Belleville East) (Swansea, Ill./Belleville East).

Saint Louis netted the only goal of the second period to regain a 3-2 lead. Freshman wing Josh Hasamear (Collinsville, IL/Althoff Catholic) (Collinsville, Ill./Althoff Catholic), who had two goals in the Bearcats' season-opening 5-5 tie with SLU on Friday night, knotted Saturday's game at 3-3 thanks to assists from Rolla and Clark.

However, the lead was short-lived as the Billikens scored the game-winner just seconds later and held on for the victory.

Senior Mike Stier (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) collected 46 saves in taking the hard-luck loss in goal for McKendree.