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SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The ninth-ranked Mercyhurst University women's hockey team will play for the College Hockey America regular season title this weekend against Syracuse University.  The Lakers (22-6-1, 13-3 CHA) will travel to the Tennity Ice Pavilion on Friday, February 15 and Saturday, February 16 for their last away series.  Faceoff's are set for 7:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. respectively. 
 
Mercyhurst holds a lifetime 20-0-1 against the Orange and is 8-0-1 at the Tennity Ice Pavilion.  The last run in at the Ice Pavilion, Syracuse took the Lakers to a 1-1 overtime tie on January 7, 2012.
 
The Lakers are coming back from a weekend split over Robert Morris at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.  On Friday, the Lakers fell 4-2 before battling back to a 9-1 win Saturday.  Senior assistant captain Lauren Jones tallied her first career hat trick on Saturday to earn her first CHA Player of the Week award.  Senior Jenna Hendrikx tallied a career-high 4 points on a goal and three assists. 
 
Syracuse is looking to extend its eight game-winning streak, after picking up its fourth CHA weekend sweep last weekend over RIT.  Nicole Renault tallied her second goal of the season and first game-winner against RIT on Friday.  Akane Hosoyamada tallied the first goal in both contests, as she is now sixth on the team in points with four goals and 10 assists.  With a win this weekend, Syracuse's head coach Paul Flanagan will reach 300 career wins.
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES:

THE SERIES
Mercyhurst is undefeated against Syracuse and holds a lifetime 20-0-1 since the development of Syracuse's program back in the 2008-09 season.  In the two team's first meeting of the year, the Lakers swept Syracuse 1-0 and 4-1 at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.  On Friday's contest, Junior Christie Cicero was the game-winning hero after scoring the only goal of the contest at 3:08 into the third period as Junior Christine Bestland tallied the assists.  With 24 saves, sophomore Amanda Makela recorded her fourth career shutout in the win.  On Saturday, Freshman Emily Janiga tallied her second career hat trick in route to the 4-1 victory.  Sophomore Shelby Bram tallied her seventh goal of the season early in the third.  Freshman Jenna Dingeldein, Cicero and Bestland all notched two assists apiece.  This weekend's contests will be a battle for the regular season champions as both teams are one point away from each other in the conference standing, with Mercyhurst on top. 
 
ABOUT MERCYHURST

The Mercyhurst University women's hockey team split with Robert Morris University over the weekend and therefore dropped two spots in the latest USCHO.com Division I women's hockey poll.   On Friday, the Lakers fell 4-2 after Mercyhurst pulled goaltender Amanda Makela with a minute left in regulation but the Colonials Kristen Richards scored on an empty net for the win. Before Friday, the Lakers were 19-0-0 after scoring the first goal of the contest, but fell to 19-1-0 after Jenna Dingeldein scored at 8:22 in the first period to lead 1-0. After the win Saturday the Lakers are now 20-1-0 in that category.  Robert Morris answered back with three unanswered goals to gain the 3-1 edge. Junior captain Christine Bestland scored at 17:43 into the third period to narrow the lead but was not enough for a Laker victory. The win on Friday was the second time in 14 games that the Colonials had ever won at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. Mercyhurst rebounded Saturday to win 9-1 against the conference rival. Senior Lauren Jones tallied her first hat trick of her career after scoring back to back goals in the last 30 seconds of the first period and another later in the third. The Lakers created an onslaught of four goals in the first period total, one from senior Stephanie DeSutter at 11:17 and then freshman Emily Janiga scored again six minutes later. The Lakers allowed one goal when the Colonials received back to back power-plays. Senior Gina Buquet and Bestland tallied a goal apiece in the second, while Bestland, senior Jenna Hendrikx and Jones all added a goal in the third. Hendrikx tallied her game-high four points against the Colonials, adding three assists throughout regulation. Mercyhurst was two-for-nine with a man advantage during the weekend series, after being held one for eleven earlier on this season. The Lakers offense is now third in the country, averaging 4.31 goals per game. Their defense is sixth, averaging 1.66 goals per game and is seventh in their power-play with a 23.1% conversion. Junior Captain Christine Bestland leads the Lakers with 61 points on 23 goals and 38 assists. Freshman Emily Janiga follows with 37 points on 18 goals and 19 helpers, and Dingeldein is third on 35 points and second in helpers with 22.
 
ABOUT SYRACUSE

Syracuse is 18-11-1, and 12-3-1 overall this season.  The Orange currently holds an eight game-winning streak after sweeping RIT last weekend 2-1 on both wins during the home and home series.  In the last four weekends, the Orange has swept their past four opponents, and has completed six sweeps in the season with five of them against conference opponents.  With their eight game winning-streak, head coach Paul Flanagan needs one more win to reach 300 career wins and the 300th win for the program.  Nicole Renault tallied her second goal of the season and first game-winner against RIT on Friday.  Akane Hosoyamada tallied the first goal in both contests, as she is now sixth on the team in points with four goals and 10 assists.  Holly Carrie-Mattimoe, Nicole Ferrara and Melissa Piacentini are all tied for first on the team in points.  All three players have nine goals, thirteen assists for twenty-two points on the season.  Kallie Billadeau (14-6-0) has played in over 1,000 minutes, allowing 26 goals and holds a .947 save percentage.  Jenesi Drinkwater has split time with Billadeau as she is 4-5-1 in the season, allowing 31 goals and a save percentage of .882 in the season.