ROCHESTER, N.Y. – RIT graduate student forward Elijah Gonsalves notched what proved to be the game-winning goal during a decisive four-goal second period run, as the No. 20 Tigers earned a 5-2 Atlantic Hockey victory over visiting Mercyhurst, Friday, for their fifth-consecutive win.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Fifth-year defenseman Gianfranco Cassaro put the Tigers on the board with 13:23 left in the first period. Taking a puck along the right boards in the neutral zone, Cassaro skated around the RIT goal and back through the neutral zone, evading two defenders for a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle.  Laker goaltender Owen Say made the initial pad save, but Cassaro tipped the long rebound inside the right post.
• Mercyhurst evened the score at 2:32 of the second after Tommy Bannister finished an odd-man rush, but RIT answered less than a minute later with the first of three goals in a four-minute span.
• First-year forward Tyler Fukakusa made a nice play on the forecheck to tip a puck away from a Mercyhurst player in the right faceoff circle. First-year forward Matthew Wilde was there to wrist the loose puck into the top-left corner, far-post, with 16:33 on the clock.  
• Junior forward Grady Hobbs blocked a shot in the Tiger slot and sent a pass off the left boards to sophomore forward Simon Isabelle streaking through the neutral zone to create an odd-man rush. Isabelle crossed a pass through the slot to Gonsalves, who beat Slay inside the right post with 14:13 remaining in the period.
• RIT scored with 12:39 on the clock for a 4-1 lead. Cassaro carried the puck behind the Laker goal and threw a puck toward the crease from the left goal line. Sophomore forward Tyler Mahan was there to push a puck to Isabelle in front of the left post, who spun and threw a puck back to Mahan for a shot inside a wide-open right post.
• RIT made it a 5-1 lead with 3:04 left in the second after first-year forward Christian Catalano fought a puck out of crowd behind the Mercyhurst goal to the left half boards. Fukakusa collected the puck at the point and dropped a pass to the top of the faceoff circle to Stewart, who scored on a long shot that changed direction off a skate in front of the crease with 3:04 left in the period.
• Mercyhurst got one back at 4:44 of the third after Mickey Burns gloved down a deflected shot in the slot for a close range shot. Tiger sophomore goaltender Tommy Scarfone made the initial save off his pads, but Boris Skalos cleaned up a short rebound. 

GAME NOTES

• RIT put together its second-straight five-goal effort after also completing a two-game sweep at Army last Saturday with a 5-3 decision.
• Entering the night leading Atlantic Hockey with 3.38 goals per game, the Tigers have outscored their opponents, 20-11, during their current five-game win streak.
• Gonsalves scored his 28^th career goal and moved into a tie for 25^th in program history (D1 era) with his 73^rd career point.
• Scarfone totaled 22 saves to improve to 7-1 this season. Also making his 1,700th save, he surpassed Lou Menard '09 for fifth on the all-time saves list (D1 era) with 1,721 to date - only six short of Shane Madolora '12 for fourth.  
• Fukakusa logged two assists for his first multi-point game with the Tigers.
• Stewart scored his first point in an RIT sweater.
• Cassaro notched his fourth goal of the season.
• Wilde scored a goal in his third-straight game after tallying his first three career goals during the Army series.
• Mahan scored his second goal in three games after also finding the net in last Friday's 4-2 win at Army.
• Graduate student defenseman Ryan Nicholson notched his third-straight game with an assist.
• RIT killed all five Mercyhurst power plays it faced.
• The Tigers finished the night winning 36-of-54 faceoffs (66.7%), including 15-of-22 by junior forward Carter Wilkie and 13-of-17 by Fukakusa.
• RIT played in front a crowd of 3,925 fans.  

WHAT'S NEXT
RIT hosts Mercyhurst on Saturday (Nov. 11) for a rematch at 5:05 p.m.