Complete Game Notes

ITHACA, N.Y.- The seventh ranked Mercyhurst University women's hockey team travels to Cornell University to compete in their fourth top-ten match-up this season.  The contest is set for Tuesday, January 28 at 7:00 p.m. at the James Lynah Rink in Ithaca, N.Y.
 
The Lakers improved to 19-4-1 completing the series sweep of Lindenwood 10-1, and 5-1 last weekend.  After picking up the two wins, the Lakers are 10-2 in the College Hockey America Conference with 20 points.  All three goaltenders saw action between the pipes for the Lakers, allowing only one goal.  Junior captain Christine Bestland tallied her 150th point and a season-high four assists on Friday.  Sophomore Shelby Bram matched Bestland's four assists also on Friday.  Freshman Jenna Dingeldein notched six points while sophomore Caroline Luczak scored her first goal of her career as a Laker.
 
Cornell (17-4) dropped to fifth in the latest Division I rankings, after earning two wins over Yale and Brown last weekend.  Brianne Jenner picked up a point in each Big Red goal scored over the weekend and now leads her team with 40 points on the season.  Big Red goaltender Lauren Slebodnick picked up her 40th career win last weekend and is 13-4-0 in the season.
 
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ADDITIONAL NOTES:

THE SERIES
The Mercyhurst University women's hockey team holds a lifetime record of 13-4-1 against Cornell University dating back to their first meeting on November 24, 2001 at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.  Since then the Lakers have only fell three times to the Big Red, with the first time being in the NCAA Final Four Semifinal game in 2010 when Cornell won 3-2 in overtime.  The Lakers are 3-1-1 at James Lynah Rink in Ithaca, N.Y. after meeting Cornell one out of three times last year on the road.  Earlier in 2011, the Lakers were ranked-sixth when they hosted then ranked-third Cornell at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.  Cornell had the 5-4 advantage in the first contest as they scored three unanswered goals in the second period.  However Mercyhurst answered back with a 5-2 win that Saturday, after having scored four unanswered goals.  Sophomore defensemen Molly Byrne scored the only Laker power-play goal in Saturday's game.  Three months later the two teams met again in Ithaca, New York, when the two teams were tied at one until the Big Red had a third period explosion to beat then sixth-ranked Lakers, 5-1.  Byrne tallied an assist in the only Laker goal.
 
ABOUT MERCYHURST
The seventh-ranked Mercyhurst University women's hockey team swept Lindenwood University 10-1 Friday and 5-1 Saturday.  Both games were played in two different locations due to a water main break on Main Campus.  Friday's contest was played at the Jamestown Savings Bank Arena in Jamestown, N.Y. and Saturday's contest was played at the Erie Insurance Arena. Friday's victory was a team effort as eight different Lakers scored a goal.  The last time eight different Lakers scored a goal was back on January 15, 2011 when the Lakers hosted Brown University and won 12-0.  Six different Lakers had a multipoint game, including Freshman Jenna Dingeldein (4), junior captain Christine Bestland (4), freshman Emily Janiga (3), and sophomore Shelby Bram (4).  Bram and Bestland both tallied a career-high four assists in a single game on Friday.  Bestland also marked her 150th career point on her fourth assists.  Bestland has five more assists to reach another milestone of 100 career-assists as a Laker.  Another milestone was achieved on Friday by sophomore Caroline Luczak when she scored her first career goal as a Laker halfway through the third period.  Goaltender's Amanda Makela and freshman Julia DiTondo split time in the net for the Lakers.  Makela made eight saves and playing in 35:15 minutes.  DiTondo made her first appearance between the pipes as a Laker, playing in 24:43 minutes and made 9 saves. On Saturday, Dingeldein continued her scoring pace with two goals, while Bestland tallied a goal and an assist.  Junior Christie Cicero scored a goal and an assist in the 5-1 victory, continuing her scoring streak to eight games, the longest on the team this season.  Senior assistant captain Lauren Jones scored her seventh goal of the season in late in the third, while Janiga picked up two more assists.  Senior goaltender Stephanie Ciampa picked up another win after making 24 saves on 25 shots to improve her record to 11-1-0.  The Lakers are now 17-0-0 after scoring the first goal of the game throughout the season, after scoring first in both contests over Lindenwood.  Mercyhurst has won all four meetings this season with the Lady Lions. Lindenwood scored the first goal of the series on November 2 but, since then, the Lakers have tallied 22 goals in succession before Lindenwood scored again on Saturday- 6-1, 6-0, 10-0, 5-1.
 
ABOUT CORNELL
Cornell University earned two wins from Ivy League rivals after shutting out Yale 5-0 and stopping Brown to only two goals in a 4-2 win.  In each contest, Cornell has had a three goal rally in either the first or third period to pull out the two victories.  Cornell remains tied for second in the recent ECAC hockey standings with Clarkson.  Brianne Jenner picked up a point in each goal throughout the two games, and leads her team with 19 goals and 21 assists for 40 points this season.  Jillian Saulnier follows behind Jenner with eight goals and leads the team with 26 assists to complete her 34 points this season.  Goaltender Lauren Slebodnick picked up her 40th career win and is 13-4-0 in the season.  Slebodnick has allowed 27 goals for a 1.66 goals against average, and has stopped 325 shots on net for the Big Red.  Cornell is currently 10-0-0 this season at James Lynah Rink, after having a record of 17-4 this season.  Cornell's offense is currently fourth in the country, as they are averaging 4.15 goals per game and the program is holding a 103 game-scoring streak.  Their defense is sixth in the country as they are holding the opponents to an average of only 1.65 goals per game.