Air Force gave a glimpse of what the future holds while taking care of the present on Saturday night at Cadet Arena.

The Falcons got their first four goals from freshmen or sophomores, two from defensemen, in defeating Mercyhurst, 5-1, to split the teams’ Atlantic Hockey Conference series.

Freshmen blue liners Alex Mehnert and Zack Mirageas tallied during a three-goal second period, and fellow freshman defenseman Jake Levin had assists on the Falcons’ first two goals.

“They played outstanding, really did a great job offensively, defensively, and really managed the game well,” said captain Dylan Abood, who had an assist, was plus-2 and blocked six shots. “They played like vets this weekend.”

Sophomore forwards Trevor Stone and Pierce Pluemer gave and re-gave the Falcons 1-0 and 2-1 leads.

That helped ease the loss of junior forward Matt Serratore, who was suspended for Saturday night’s game after being assessed a five-minute major for cross-checking and a game DQ at the end of Friday’s 1-0 loss.

Just as they did Friday, when the didn’t have a winning outcome to show for it, the Falcons (9-10-3, 4-8-2 AHC) controlled play for long stretches on Saturday. While the shots-on-goal margin was much closer (with AFA leading 29-27), Air Force made the most of its chances and got the good bounces it didn’t get Friday.

“Compared to last night we didn’t do much differently. We wanted to come out with a fast start,” said Stone, who also had an assist on Evan Giesler‘s empty-net goal with 1:52 left. “We just couldn’t find a way to get the puck in the net the first night. Today we had a couple of good bounces that went our way and into the net. Sometimes you’ll have games like that.”

Stone took Serratore’s spot on a line with Kyle Haak and Jordan Himley and got the Falcons rolling when he deflected Levin’s shot from the right goal line past Mercyhurst’s Brandon Wildung just 3:47 into the game.

Pluemer, who returned to the lineup, got the Falcons back on top after Jack Riley had tied the score 42 seconds in the second period. Levin’s shot from the right circle came to the well-positioned Pluemer on the left doorstep, and the left wing wasted little time depositing the puck into the net 4:15 into the second. Like Stone, it was his second goal of the season.

Just 51 seconds later Mehnert made it 3-1 with a blast from between the circles 16 seconds into a power play for his first NCAA goal.

Mirageas’ slap shot from near the top of the right circle gave the Falcons a 4-1 lead with 19 seconds left in the second, capping the period’s scoring surge and finishing Wildung’s night after two periods and 19 saves.

Falcons goalie Billy Christopoulos made 26 saves. He allowed just two goals on 46 shots all weekend.

Despite the split, the Falcons played one of their better series of the season, something that bodes well going forward, Abood said.

“We played two strong games, but unfortunately we couldn’t get the job done last night,” the senior said. “I thought we had some things to improve on last night but we played well both nights and had a great start to league play in the second half. It’s definitely something we can build off. We should be very happy with our effort.”

Lineup shuffle

In addition to Serratore, the Falcons were without two of their top three defensemen due to injury – junior Matt Koch (lower body) and senior Phil Boje (upper body). Junior Dan Bailey replaced Koch, who was injured Friday in the first period but finished the game. Boje was out for the second game in a row.

“Tonight was somewhat of a must-win game for us,” Falcons coach Frank Serratore said. “We having won a lot of games at home (5 of 11), and keep in mind Boje, Koch and Serratore were out of the lineup. We still won somewhat handily so it was a good bounce back.”

Numbers game

The Falcons killed off all three Lakers power plays, capping a 5-for-5 weekend on the penalty kill. AFA’s power play was 1 for 4. … The Lakers (8-10-2, 5-7-2 AHC) flipped the script on face-offs on night after the Falcons dominated that phase of the game. Mercyhurst won 39 of 70 draws (56 percent). … The five goals tied for second most on the season for the Falcons. They scored six against Colorado College last Friday and five at Bemidji State and again at Sacred Heart.

Air Force’s three stars

1. Jake Levin. The freshman had the first assist on the Falcons’ first two goals because he got the puck to the net. He also had two of AFA’s 20 blocks.
2. Alex Mehnert. Not only did he score his first career goal, but he put a team-high shots on goal and added two blocks.
3. Dylan Abood. Once again the captain led the blue line. “He was a stud, a one-man breakout,” his coach said. Abood had an assist, six blocks and was one of five Falcons who was plus-2.

Up next

The Falcons hit the road to visit RIT in a rematch of a November series that the teams split at Cadet Arena. The games Friday and Saturday face off at 5:05 p.m. MST.