Complete Box Score

ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst women's hockey team scored five goals in the first 9:02 of the opening period and cruised to a 7-2 victory on Thursday night at the Mercyhurst Ice Center, closing the 2011 portion of the regular season schedule. With the win, the fifth-ranked Lakers improved to 14-4-0 overall while Lindenwood saw its record fall to 1-18-0 in its first season of NCAA competition.

The Lakers got goals from five different players in the opening nine minutes of the game, three of which came against Lindenwood starting goaltender Briar Bache, who lasted just 5:50 and stopped just 3-of-6 Mercyhurst shots.

Senior Kelley Steadman got Mercyhurst on the board just 1:29 into the opening twenty minutes with her 16th goal of the season. Junior Lauren Jones and senior Jill Szandzik had the assists. Less than three minutes later, at 4:12, sophomore Christie Cicero netted her fourth goal of the season with freshman Vaila Higson and sophomore Christine Bestland adding the assists on the goal. Then, at 5:50, freshman Shelby Bram scored the eventual game-winning goal, her first of two goals on the night, with assists going to junior Jessica Christofferson and senior Bailey Bram.

Bache was pulled for last night's starter Taylor Fairchild after Bram's goal. However, Fairchild was greeted rudely as senior Bailey Bram scored her 21st goal of the season at the 8:36 mark, with Christofferson and senior Pamela Zgoda adding the assists. The Lakers would tack one more goal in the first period, just 26 seconds later, when Bestland got on the board with her 15th goal of the season. Cicero and freshman Hailey Browne had the helpers.

Mercyhurst held a 16-9 shot advantage in the first period.

But, Fairchild would settle down in the second period, stopping all 31 Mercyhurst shots on goal in the middle stanza. And, with the Lady Lions on the power play, Caitlyn Post would score Lindenwood's first goal of the two-game series at the 15:40 mark of the second period, when she beat Mercyhurst starting goaltender Stephanie Ciampa. Alison Wickenheiser and Alyssa West had the assists. Mercyhurst outshot Lindenwood 31-6 in the middle period.

The score would remain 5-1 until the 14:35 mark of the third period when Higson scored her second goal of the series and third of the season on a shot from between the circles. Steadman and Bestland had the assists. Sixty-five seconds later, at 15:40, Shelby Bram picked up a loose puck in the Lindenwood zone and scored on an unassisted breakaway for her second goal of the night and sixth goal of the year to close out Mercyhurst's scoring.

Lindenwood would tack on another power play goal with 52 seconds remaining, making the final 7-2. Kendra Broad took a shot from the point that bounced off of Jordyn Constance's shoulders and past Ciampa. Samantha Redick had the other helper. Mercyhurst had 16 more shots on goal in the third period, giving them 63 total for the contest. Meanwhile, Lindenwood had seven shots for a total of 22.

Ciampa started just her second game of the season in reserve of senior Hillary Pattenden, who last night, became the all-time winningest goaltender in NCAA Division I history with 92 career wins. The junior from Peabody, Massachusetts improved to 2-0-0 on the year with a 20-save performance. Bache and Fairchild combined to stop 56 Mercyhurst shots on goal, with Fairchild putting on a valiant effort after replacing Bache. Fairchild stopped 53-of-57 shots in the loss, while Bache took the loss, dropping to 0-3-0 on the season. 

The Lakers will be off until their first conference games of the season on January 6 and 7 in Syracuse, New York to take on the Orange. Faceoffs are scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. respectively.