PITTSBURGH, Pa.-The American International ice hockey team suffered a 5-2 setback at the hands of the Robert Morris Colonials in Atlantic Hockey play at 84 Lumber Arena despite a forty-save performance by senior goalkeeper Ryan Kerpan (Saskatoon, Sask.).

AIC now sits at 6-15-1 overall and 5-9-1 in the AHA, while RMU improves to 6-13-3 and 6-6-3 in league play.

The Colonials opened the scoring late in the first period when sophomore Greg Gibson scored his fifth of the year at 17:59 on a bouncing puck in front. They added to the lead early in the second frame when junior Cody Wydo netted his fifteenth of the year at 1:06.

The Yellow Jackets would come right back to get within one, as junior right wing Jason Popek (Hamilton, Ont.) connected with sophomore left wing Chris Porter (Stoufville, Ont.), sending him on a breakaway at 3:20 for his sixth of the campaign.

However, the Colonials would strike twice more in the middle stanza, re-establishing the two-goal edge when junior Jeff Jones potted his fourth of the year at 6:48, and added to the lead late in the frame while shorthanded, as out of a scrum in front of the RMU net, Wydo flipped the puck to sophomore Zack Lynch, who roofed the puck for his tenth of the season.

AIC would get one late in the third, as junior center Alexander MacMillan (Calgary, Alb.) dropped a puck to the point for senior defenseman Nick Campanale (Chester Springs, Pa.), who cut around the high forward and rifled home his first of the year at 17:58.

RMU closed out the scoring as Gibson struck the empty net at 19:50 for his sixth of the year.

Kerpan stopped 40 of 44 shots in 58:43 in the loss to fall to 0-4-0, while sophomore Terry Shafer stopped 31 of 33 in the win to improve to 6-11-3.

AIC will return to the Olympia for the first time in three weeks when they open a home-and-home with the Connecticut Huskies Friday, January 24 at 7:05 p.m.