TROY, N.Y. – Junior
Vicki Bendus tallied a season-high four points in the first period and the No. 1 / 1 Mercyhurst College women's hockey team rolled past Renssealer, 5-1, on Saturday afternoon at the Houston Field House. With the win, the Lakers improve to 4-0 on the season and 2-0 on the road.
Coming off their first 1-0 victory in nearly two years in Friday's game, the Lakers let the offense flow on RPI goaltender Sonja van der Bliek, who entered the game ranked third in the country with a .970 save percentage. Mercyhurst broke out with five goals on 14 shots in the first period, forcing the netminder to make a brief exit after playing just 17:11 with nine saves.
Bendus helped the Lakers to a 2-0 lead, dishing out one of her three assists to sophomore
Jess Jones at 6:22, before scoring her second goal of the season at 7:23. After a Rensselaer tally to cut the lead in half, freshman
Lauren Jones restored the two-goal advantage with her first collegiate marker at 9:38. Sophomore
Bailey Bram made it 4-1 just a little over five minutes later when she converted a power-play opportunity at 14:04, while classmate
Kelley Steadman pushed the score to 5-1 at 17:11.
The five goals scored were the most in any period since a five-goal, opening period run against Quinnipiac back on Jan. 25, 2008. Bendus, playing as freshman then, assisted on two of them as the Lakers won 7-1.
In addition to Bendus' four points, Jones totaled three with a goal and two assists while freshman
Samantha Watt and Steadman each had two.
Neither team found the back of the net over the final two frames as both goaltenders combined to stop 36 shots. Sophomore
Hillary Pattenden made a season-high 32 saves in the game, falling one stop shy of tying her career-mark of 33 set against Minnesota in the national semifinals last season. van der Bliek, returning to start the second period, finished with 25.
RPI outshot Mercyhurst 33-30 and went 0-for-7 on the power play. The Lakers finished 1-for-5 with the extra skater.
The Lakers continue their four-game road trip next weekend with a pair of games at Cornell, beginning on Friday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m.
