HAMILTON, N.Y. - Senior goaltender Jimmy Sarjeant stopped 39 shots and senior forward Daniel Bahntge scored the eventual game-winning goal with 3:10 left in regulation to lift the Mercyhurst Unviersity men's hockey team to a 2-1 upset at fourth-ranked Colgate University on Saturday night at Starr Rink. The win lifted the Lakers back to the .500 mark overall at 3-3-0 while the Raiders suffered just their second loss of the season. Colgate dropped to 6-2-0.

The win marks the highest-ranked opponent that Mercyhurst has beaten since joining the Division I ranks in 1999-2000. The highest-ranked foe that the Lakers knocked off prior to Saturday night was a 6-4 win over #7 Princeton on November 29, 2008 in the opening round of the Rensselaer Holiday Tournament. Mercyhurst defeated fourth-ranked Michigan in a shootout on October 2, 2010 to open the 2010-11 campaign. However, the game went down as a tie in the record books.

Mercyhurst improved to 2-6 lifetime against Colgate with seven of the eight meetings between the two schools decided by three goals or fewer. It was also the Lakers' second non-conference victory of the season as they improved to 2-2 against teams outside of the Atlantic Hockey Association. Last season, Mercyhurst was 2-8-1 against non-conference foes.

The Lakers have two non-conference games remaining on this year's schedule. Mercyhurst will play Ohio State on January 2 and 3, 2015 at the Erie Insurance Arena in the first annual "Snowtown Throwdown."

After getting blanked on Friday night, 4-0, in the series opener, Mercyhurst wasted little time getting on the scoreboard Saturday night. Freshman Jonathan Charbonneau tallied his second goal of the season at the 3:40 mark of the opening period to give the Lakers their first goal, and their first lead, of the weekend. Sophomore Kyle Dutra had the lone assist. Through six games this season, Charbonneau has tallied two goals and two assists for four points to lead all Laker rookies in scoring.

Mercyhurst outshot Colgate in the opening period, 11-7.

Then, Sarjeant took over.

The senior netminder from Aurora, Ontario turned aside 32-of-33 shots over the final two periods as the Lakers were outshot 33-10 during the last forty minutes of play.

After a scoreless second period, Bahntge gave the Lakers a 2-0 lead with his first goal, and first point, of the season at the 16:50 mark of the third period. Redshirt senior Kyle Just picked up the lone assist on Bahntge 40th career goal in a Mercyhurst uniform. The Westlake, Ohio native, who has not missed a game in his time at Mercyhurst (128 games), now needs eight points to reach 100 points for his career.

Colgate pulled goaltender Charlie Finn for an extra attacker with 2:22 left in regulation and, just 11 seconds later, ended Sarjeant's shutout bid when Tyson Spink scored his third goal of the season with assists from Spiro Goulakos and John Lidgett.

Finn was pulled again with 1:50 left on the clock, but this time, Mercyhurst was able to keep Colgate from scoring the equalizer. Sarjeant preserved the win with a pair of saves in the waning seconds.

All told, Sarjeant turned aside 39-of-40 shots, including 19 saves during the third period, in what was his best performance of the season. He improved to 3-3 overall on the season, lowered his goals against average to 3.15, and upped his save percentage to .912. Finn, who has started every game for Colgate this season, stopped 21-of-23 Mercyhurst shots in the loss. He fell to 6-2-0.

Neither team was able to convert on five power play opportunities aside.

Mercyhurst will return to the Mercyhurst Ice Center, and will return to conference play, next Friday and Saturday, November 7 and 8 against Army. Due to conflicts in the schedule before the holiday season, Saturday night's game will serve as Mercyhurst's third annual Teddy Bear Toss. Faceoffs are scheduled for 7:05 p.m. both nights.