WENTZVILLE, Mo. - Hat Tricks by sophomore Emily Janiga and senior Christine Bestland led the Mercyhurst University women's hockey team past Lindenwood University, 7-1 on Saturday afternoon. The Lakers pick up their sixth straight win and improved to 13-5-2 in the season and 6-2-1 in the CHA. Lindenwood fell to 2-15-2 overall and 2-6-1 in conference play.

The Lakers scored two short-handed goals in the first period to give Mercyhurst the edge early on. Sophomore Emily Janiga scored just three minutes into the contest on a short-handed goal to give her team the momentum. On the Lakers second penalty kill, Bestland scored her third short-handed goal of the season and first goal of the contest. The short-handed goals marked the first time Mercyhurst has scored two in a contest since November 18, 2011.

Bestland scored again at the 17:07 mark into the first period to give her team a 3-0 lead heading into the second. Sophomore Jaclyn Arbour and Janiga added the assists. Mercyhurst outshot Lindenwood 17 to eight throughout the first 20 minutes.

At the start of the second, Bestland completed her hat trick on an even strength goal at the 5:14 mark into the second period. Janiga added her third assist of the night, while sophomore Jenna Dingledein added her first of the contest.

Mercyhurst was awarded a power-play opportunity midway through the middle period, which Janiga capitalized on after a 1:20 with the extra attacker. The goal by Janiga marked her second power-play goal of the season and tenth overall in the season, giving Mercyhurst the 5-0 edge.

Lindenwood prevented the shutout however after finally breaking through netminder junior Amanda Makela. Lindenwood's Caitlyn Post scored her second goal of the season at the 16:27 mark to complete the scoring heading into the final period. Post was assisted by Alyssa West and Katie Erickson.

The scoring completed after Mercyhurst tallied two goals less than a minute apart from each other. Janiga tallied her third hat trick of her career on her third goal of the contest at the 2:38 mark of the final period. Dingeldein was awarded her second assist of the contest while junior Caroline Luczak picked up her first.

At the 3:07 mark, Lindenwood had a penalty and Mercyhurst controlled the play for enough time for Makela to leave the ice for an extra attacker. Senior Christie Cicero scored her ninth goal of the season with the extra attacker to finish the 7-1 win. Sophomore Maggie Rothgery had the assist along with junior Shelby Bram.

With a little of 16 minutes to go in regulation, the Lakers replaced Makela for freshman Sara Besseling in net to give Besseling her collegiate debut. Besseling played for 16:42 minutes and stopped all eight shots faced.

All told, the Lakers outshot Lindenwood 48 to 23 throughout the three periods. The Lakers also stopped all six Lion power-play opportunities and scored on one of their four chances including nine attempted shots on net.

Makela picked up the win to improve to 11-5-2 in the season. Makela made 14 saves and allowed one goal in the 43:07 minutes played. Lindenwood's Alexis Molotky suffered the loss in her first start of the season (0-1-0) after making 41 saves.

With the hat trick and three assists, Janiga collected her career-high 6 points in a contest. The hat trick marked her third of her career and her short-handed goal was her first collegiate shorty. Bestland was second on the team with five points on her season-high five points in a contest after scoring three goals and two assists. Bestland also extended her scoring streak to six games.

Cicero also extended her scoring streak to five games after having her second consecutive multipoint game. Cicero tallied a goal and an assists in the win and needs just one more assist to reach her career 50 assists.

Both teams meet again at the Lindenwood Ice Center on Sunday, December 15 at 12:00 p.m. central. The contest will conclude the Lakers first half of the season.