ERIE, Pa. – The top-ranked Mercyhurst College women's hockey team ran its winning streak to six games Friday evening, defeating Syracuse, 4-1, in a College Hockey America contest at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. The Lakers improve to 26-2-3 on the season and 13-1-1 in CHA action, while Syracuse falls to 17-15-1 overall and 8-7-0 in conference play.

Four different Lakers scored in the contest, including sophomore Jess Jones with a game-high one-goal, two-assist performance. Juniors Vicki Bendus and Jesse Scanzano scored a goal and added an assist apiece, while junior Ashley Cockell tallied two helpers and sophomore Bailey Bram netted a goal.

Mercyhurst jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period and never looked back. Jones put the Lakers out in front when she knocked in a shot from junior Kylie Rossler in the midst of several players crashing the net with 1:42 remaining.

The lead would grow to 2-0 in the second, as Bram took a pass from Jones in front of the net and sent it top shelf over senior goaltender Lucy Schoedel at the 12:26 mark.

Syracuse cut the deficit in half less than five minutes later when Holly Carrie-Mattimoe buried a tic-tac-toe pass from the left side of the net on a 5-on-3 power play at 16:36.

The Orange played a tight game through the first two periods, holding the Lakers to a 25-14 edge in shots and a 1-for-4 clip on the power play.

Mercyhurst, however, turned aside the pesky Orange squad with a pair of goals in the third period.

Bendus gave the Lakers a two-goal cushion again thanks to a long pass from Cockell deep in their own territory. Waiting at the Syracuse blueline, Bendus took the feed and skated to the top of the right circle, where she ripped a shot to the far post for her team-leading 26th goal of the year at 8:31.

Scanzano capped the game with an empty-net goal with just 12 seconds remaining.

Sophomore Hillary Pattenden kept the Orange at bay with 17 saves to earn her 25th win of the season and improve to 25-2-3 on the season. Mercyhurst outshot Syracuse 38-18 and finished 1-for-5 on the power play.

Both teams close out the season series on Saturday, Feb. 27 with a 2 p.m. at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.