ERIE, Pa. - The ninth ranked Mercyhurst University women's hockey team will play Robert Morris University in the College Hockey America semifinals on Friday, March 8 at 1:30 p.m. at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.  The winner of the contest will move on to the championship match Saturday to face the winner of the Syracuse/RIT contest that will take place at 4:30 at the Ice Center.

For more tournament information, including ticket prices, and live stats, please click here.

Mercyhurst enjoys a lifetime 31-5-1 advantage against the Colonials, dating back to 2005 when Robert Morris began its program. The Lakers had not won a contest in their last four meetings (0-3-1) against the Colonials before routing Robert Morris 9-1 near the end of the regular season at the Ice Center. Three of the four previous games had taken place at the Robert Morris Island Sports Complex.  The 8-goal game came a day after RMU won 4-2.

The Lakers are 14-2-0 against Robert Morris, with the only other loss back on January 21, 2012.

These two CHA-foes have created an in-state competition, as Robert Morris owns a  5-3-1  record  the last two years, having wonheir first ever game against the Lakers last season. Last season, Robert Morris upset the Lakers in the CHA final while the Lakers are trying to avoid history from repeating itself.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

ABOUT MERCYHURST

The ninth-ranked Mercyhurst University women's hockey team swept RIT for their final regular season contest at the Mercyhurst Ice Center back on February 22-23. The Lakers finished the regular season 26-6-1 overall and 17-3-0 in the season and picked up their 11th consecutive CHA regular season title, and 13th straight dating back to the Great Lakes Conference. The Lakers beat RIT Friday 4-1 after have all four goals scored in the third period. Junior captain Christine Bestland tallied her 25th goal of the season with less than a minute into the third period. Freshman Emily Janiga scored again at 4:27 and Bestland scored the third unanswered goal at 6:46. RIT only broke through senior goaltender Stephanie Ciampa once on a power-play goal before pulling their goalie for Dingeldein to score an empty-net goal at 18:56. Ciampa allowed one goal and stopped 20 to pick up her seventh straight win. Mercyhurst is now 23-1-0 after scoring the first goal of the contest. On Saturday, the Lakers were trailing for the first time after the first period since playing Cornell back on January 29. RIT was up 2-0 after scoring two late goals in the first period. Mercyhurst tied it with back-to-back goals by senior Stephanie DeSutter and Jenna Hendrikx only 30 seconds apart from each other. Junior Christie Cicero scored the game-winning goal at 6:54 and senior Gina Buquet scored her fifth goal of the season two minutes later to extend the lead to 4-2. RIT pulled their goalie at 19:20, with senior Kelsey Welch scoring her fifth goal of the season on an empty-net goal off of a faceoff in the neutral zone. Ciampa picked up her eighth straight win, making 18 saves and allowing two goals to improve to 17-1-0 in the season. Ciampa is fourth in the country in goals against average (1.40) and eighth in save percentage (.935). Bestland is sixth in the country averaging 2.00 points per game on 66 points on 26 goals and a season-high 40 assists. Bestland is second in the country in power-play goals with 10, and is third is assists per game (1.21). Sophomores Molly Byrne and Valia Higson are fourth in the country in points by a defenseman with 31 points and averaging 0.94 points per game. Freshman Emily Janiga is second on the team in points with 40 (19-21) and is third in the country for rookies, averaging 1.21 points per game. Mercyhurst is third in scoring as their offense is averaing 4.30 goals per game, and are outscoring their opponents 142-56.

ABOUT RMU

The defending College Hockey America conference champions Robert Morris own a lifetime 5-3-1 over Mercyhurst over the last two years. The Colonials captured the CHA regular season title from Mercyhurst back in the championship round last season. Robert Morris is 15-14-3 overall this season, after capturing two wins from Lindenwood University in the first round of the CHA playoffs. On Friday's contest, the Lions took Robert Morris into triple over-time fighting against freshman goaltender Nicole Hensley who made a NCAA record of 90 saves of 92 shots. Sophomore Madie Collias tallied her sixth goal of the season in the 108th minute to win 2-1. On Saturday, the Colonials beat Lindendwood 2-0 with goaltender Kristin DiCiocco picking up her second shutout of the season. Thea Imborgno and Dayna Newsom scored a goal apiece in the victory. Before the weekends contest, Lindenwood had a season advantage beating them three out of the four meetings. Sophomore Rebecca Vint leads the team in points with 32 on the season on 16 goals and assists. Imbrogno and Kristen Richards are tied for second with 23 points. DiCiocco has appeared in 28 games this season with a 2.13 goals against average, and a .919 save percentage.