ERIE, PA. – The Roberts Wesleyan College men's lacrosse team took a six-game winning streak into Wednesday night's non-conference game against perennial NCAA Division II power Mercyhurst.

Roberts didn't earn the victory, but the Redhawks did learn many valuable lessons in the 26-10 loss to the sixth-ranked Lakers.

"All of our goals for the season are still in front of us," Roberts coach Rocky Delfino said. "We told ourselves coming into the game that we couldn't make mistakes, but we made mistakes and they capitalized. We've got to learn from our mistakes and grow from this. It's a tough one, but we'll come back tomorrow and go to work.

Roberts (9-2, 4-0 East Coast Conference) trailed just 5-3 when graduate student Gavin Marsh scored with 15 seconds remaining in the first quarter, but Mercyhurst scored just seven seconds later and closed the first half on a 9-1 run to take control of the game.

Marsh, Hunter Lemieux and Jordon Deats scored two goals to pace the Redhawks. Michael Pierog, Mitch Streety and Doviak also scored for Roberts. Reid Jackowski tallied two assists and Lemieux added one.

Aidan Sheehan made 14 saves for Roberts.

Mercyhurst owned a 26-12 advantage in faceoffs and went 18 of 20 on clears. The Lakers also went 5-for-5 in man-up situations and put 40 shots on goal, compared to 23 for the Lakers. 

Roberts, which was ranked 17th by USA Lacrosse Magazine this week, returns home to play Walsh University in an ECC-GMAC Challenge game at noon on Saturday. The Redhawks will celebrate Senior Day prior to the game.