CANTON, N.Y. – Senior captain Meghan Agosta scored two goals and dished out three assists, senior assistant captain Jesse Scanzano netted a hat trick, and the third-ranked Mercyhurst College women's hockey team rolled to a 7-3 victory over St. Lawrence Saturday afternoon at Appleton Arena.

The Lakers, who earn a split of the two-game series with the win, close out the first half of the season with a 13-3-0 record.

Agosta led all scorers in the game with her first five-point performance of the season, while Scanzano recorded her first hat trick since scoring three goals in a 6-2 win over the Saints a season ago.

Four other players also put on multi-point performances, with senior assistant captain Vicki Bendus and junior Kelley Steadman each scoring a goal and an assist and juniors Jess Jones and Bailey Bram dishing out two assists apiece.

Mercyhurst never trailed in the game and built a 3-1 lead through the first two periods before exploding for four goals in the third. Bendus accounted for the only goal of the first period when she scored on the power play at the 11:06 mark. Agosta stretched the lead to 2-0 after another St. Lawrence penalty with less than three minutes elapsed in the second.

The Saints cut the deficit in half when Brooke Fernandez took Rylee Smith's faceoff win and buried it with a Laker in the penalty box at 15:28. It was the first man-down goal surrendered by the Lakers this season.

Mercyhurst, however, restored the two-goal advantage heading into the break as Scanzano took a pass from Steadman on a breakaway and snuck it under the crossbar with under two minutes to play.

Three straight Laker goals then opened the third period, with Steadman making it a 4-1 lead at 5:09 and Scanzano completing her hat trick with back-to-back tallies less than three minutes apart at 8:49 and 11:06.

St. Lawrence made things interesting during the second half of the frame as Kelly Sabatina netted consecutive goals, including an extra-attacker power-play score at 18:35. But with the goaltender still pulled, Agosta put the game out of reach, scoring into the open net with 1:04 to play.

Mercyhurst held the Saints in check with a 44-25 edge in shots and 22 saves from junior Hillary Pattenden, who improved her record to 12-3-0 on the season. Both teams combined for 14 power-play opportunities. St. Lawrence finished the evening 1-for-8 while Mercyhurst went 2-for-6.

With the next couple of weeks off, the Lakers return to action on Saturday, Jan. 1 when they face St. Cloud State in the opening game of the 2011 Easton Holiday Showcase in St. Cloud, Minn.