SYRACUSE, N.Y. -  The top-ranked Mercyhurst College women's hockey team snubbed out a late rally in the final minutes to defeat Syracuse, 4-3, and sweep the conference series Saturday afternoon at the Tennity Ice Pavilion. The Lakers, who improve to 19-1-3 on the season and 6-0-1 in College Hockey America play, extend their unbeaten streak to 15 games and move to 24-0-1 in their last 25 CHA contests.

Down 4-1, Syracuse put a scare into the Lakers with back-to-back goals in the third period. Brittaney Machmeyer made it a two-goal game when she connected off a pass from Isabel Menard on the power play at the 8:24 mark. Julie Rising then made the score 4-3 thanks to a pass from Stefanie Marty with 2:36 remaining.  

Following the goal, the Orange looked to pull their goaltender, Lucy Schoedel, for an extra attacker, but a faceoff win by the Lakers kept possession in Syracuse territory for the remainder of the game.

The Lakers outshot Syracuse 30-18 and held leads of 2-1 after the first period, 3-1 after the second and 4-1 at the beginning of the third.

Junior Kylie Rossler gave Mercyhurst a 1-0 advantage in the first period off a pair assists from junior Melissa Lacroix and sophomore Pamela Zgoda at the 6:02 mark. Following an SU goal that tied the game just over three minutes later at 9:06, junior Cassea Schols restored the lead, scoring her third goal of the season on a pass from junior Jesse Scanzano at 16:35.

Scanzano led all scorers in the game with a pair of assists, her second of which produced the only goal of the second period. Set up on the power play, Scanzano took a pass from junior Ashley Cockell and found sophomore Jess Jones, who knocked it into the net for a 3-1 advantage at 8:45.

Sophomore Kelley Steadman made it a 4-1 game with an unassisted power-play goal at 6:08 of the third.

Sophomore Hillary Pattenden recorded her 19th win of the season with 15 saves. Schoedel, on the other hand, finished the game with 26 saves. Mercyhurst finished the game 2-for-5 on the power play while Syracuse ended up 1-for-6 with the extra man.

Mercyhurst returns home next weekend to host Niagara in a College Hockey America series on Friday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 30 at 2 p.m. at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.