NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – The fourth-ranked Mercyhurst College women's hockey team suffered its second loss of the season Saturday afternoon, falling to Niagara, 4-3, in overtime at Dwyer Arena. The Lakers, playing without senior captains Meghan Agosta and Vicki Bendus due to national team commitments, fall to 7-2-0 overall and 4-2-0 on the road this season.

The Purple Eagles defeated Mercyhurst for the second straight time when Kristen Richards roofed a shot over the head of junior Hillary Pattenden on the power play with less than two minutes to play in overtime.

Leading up to that point, Mercyhurst had to overcome two deficits to force bonus time despite setting the tone early as junior Bailey Bram scored just 2:18 into the first period.

Niagara wiped out the early goal with back-to-back markers near the end of the period to take a 2-1 lead into the second.

The Lakers, however, got the best of the Purple Eagles in the middle frame, outscoring them 2-1. Senior assistant captain Jesse Scanzano evened the slate at two after taking a homerun pass from classmate Cassea Schols and scoring on a breakaway with just 42 seconds elapsed in the frame. Following a Niagara goal at the 11:30 mark, senior Melissa Lacroix netted the Lakers' third goal, deflecting in a shot from junior Kelley Steadman at the point with 3:59 to play.

Both teams went silent in the third, forcing overtime and setting up the game-winning play for Niagara after a tripping call on the Lakers 2:02 into the frame.

Niagara's Jenni Bauer stifled the Lakers in net again, stopping 34 shots to earn the win and move her record to 2-6-1 on the season. In her last meeting against Mercyhurst, she made a career-high 44 saves to seal the upset win over the top-ranked team at the time. Pattenden, meanwhile, recorded 25 saves as she saw her record dip to 7-2-0.

For the game, Mercyhurst outshot Niagara 37-29 and went 1-for-9 on the power play. Niagara finished 2-for-6 with the extra skater.

The Lakers have the upcoming weekend off before resuming CHA play at Wayne State, beginning on Friday, Nov. 19 at 7:05 p.m.