Box Score

ERIE, Pa. - The fifth-ranked Mercyhurst women's hockey team got two goals from freshman Emily Janiga and 19 saves from senior goaltender Stephanie Ciampa to hold off tenth-ranked Minnesota State 3-1 on Saturday afternoon at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. The win completed a weekend sweep of the Mavericks and improved the Lakers' record to 8-1-1 on the season. The Mavericks dropped to 4-4-2 on the season.

With the victory, Ciampa improved to 5-0-0 on the season and 10-0-0 for her career. Her shutout bid was erased with 5:06 left in regulation on an even-strength goal by Minnesota State's Lauren Smith, but she lowered her season goals against average to 1.40 and upped her save percentage to .934 on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Janiga recorded her third multi-goal game of the season and her sixth multiple point contest of the year. The freshman from East Aurora, New York leads the Lakers with nine goals this season.

After a scoreless first period, the Lakers jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 4:32 mark of the second period. Junior Christie Cicero fired a wrist shot from the left wing circle that snuck over the glove hand of Minnesota State's starting netminder, Danielle Butters, for her seventh goal of the season. Cicero is already just one goal shy of her career-high of eight goals she scored as a freshman. Sophomore defender Caroline Luczak had the lone assist.

Janiga would give Mercyhurst a 2-0 lead at the 2:49 mark of the third period with her first goal of the afternoon and her eighth goal of the season. With the Lakers on the power play, Janiga took a shot from between the circles that deflected off  Butters' glove hand and trickled across the goal line. It was Mercyhurst's only power play tally on six opportunities on Saturday. Freshman Jenna Dingledein and junior Christine Bestland had the assists.

Things would then get interesting later in the period.

The Mavericks finally solved Ciampa with 5:06 left in regulation, cutting the Mercyhurst lead to 2-1. Smith notched her sixth goal of the season for Minnesota State with Kari Lundberg and Tracy McCann collecting the assists. A little more than a minute later, Cicero was whistled for a minor penalty, which led to a Maverick timeout with 3:45 left. Mercyhurst was able to kill off the penalty without giving up a shot on goal during the two minute minor. However, Minnesota State pulled Butters with 1:33 left, but again the Laker defense would not allow a shot attempt by the Mavericks with the extra skater on the ice.

Janiga abruptly ended Minnesota State's thoughts of a comeback when she deposited her second goal of the afternoon into the empty net with 22 seconds remaining for the final margin. Bestland and senior defender Stephanie DeSutter had the assists on the empty-netter.

Bestland joined Janiga as the only players with multiple points on Saturday. The junior captain leads the team with 24 points through the first 10 games of the season - eight of which she has collected at least two points.

Ciampa stopped 19 shots for the victory. Butters, who allowed four goals on ten shots Friday night, performed much better on Saturday afternoon, but was still saddled with the loss. She stopped 26 Mercyhurst shots, dropping to 4-4-2 on the season. Mercyhurst outshot Minnesota State 29-20. 

Mercyhurst returns to conference play next Friday and Saturday, November 2 and 3 when it takes on the Lady Lions of Lindenwood University in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Mercyhurst went 4-0 last season against Lindenwood, which has started the 2012-13 season with an 0-6 record. Faceoffs are scheduled for 8:00 p.m. (EST) and 3:00 p.m. (EST) respectively.