Box Score

ERIE, Pa. – Senior Christie Cicero of the tenth-ranked Mercyhurst University women's hockey team tallied her first career short-handed goal in route to a 5-1 victory over RIT on Friday evening. The Lakers improved to 18-7-3 on the season and 11-3-1 in the College Hockey America conference.

With the win, the Lakers also regained the lead in the CHA standings with 23 points and are one point ahead of Robert Morris (22). RIT remains in third place with 18 points despite the loss and is now 8-5-2 in the conference and 13-13-3 overall.

Sophomore Jenna Dingeldein gave her team the 1-0 advantage at the 7:05 minute of the first period to mark her 11th goal of the season. The goal came after senior Christine Bestland and junior Molly Byrne rotated the puck around the defense of RIT.

RIT was awarded two power-plays throughout the first period which Mercyhurst killed off with ease. So easily that senior Christie Cicero tallied her first collegiate goal at the 15:57 mark and the first RIT power-play of the evening. The short-handed goal would mark the eventual game-winner, which was her second of the season.

At the start of the second period, Mercyhurst was awarded the one and only power-play goal of the contest which marked a successful one. Dingeldein and Byrne connected again after Byrne battled for the puck in the neutral zone and passed it to Dingeldein. Dingeldein generated a two on one opportunity with Bestland who was set up on the left side of the net. Dingeldein gave Bestland a hard pass across the crease for Bestland to finish behind goaltender Jetta Rackleff.

Ten minutes later sophomore Emily Janiga scored her 14th goal of the season and fourth Mercyhurst goal of the contest. Dingeldein and Bestland were again in the mix to add their second assists of the evening.

With just three minutes left, junior Shelby Bram won the faceoff with sophomore J'nai Mahadeo picking up the puck. Mahadeo patiently waited for an open lane which paid off as she wound up for a hard shot from the center to the top right corner of the Tigers net. The goal marked her third of the season.

After two period of play, the Lakers outshot RIT 19 to 12 with Mercyhurst leading 5-0 with 20 minutes remaining. The Lakers are now 16-0-0 after taking the lead heading into the final period of action.

RIT took control of the third period to outshot Mercyhurst six to four. RIT captured one goal from goaltender Amanda Makela after the Tiger's Katie Hubert tallied her first goal of the season at the 7:08 mark. However after calling a timeout by the Mercyhurst bench, the Lakers regained their pace to maintain the four goal lead.

Makela made 17 saves in the win to improve to 16-6-3 on the season. RIT's Rackleff fell to 3-3-0 on the season after stopping 18 of the 23 shots.

Mercyhurst killed all six penalties that RIT was awarded including scoring the teams fifth short-handed goal of the season. Mercyhurst was awarded one power-play goal of the evening which they capitalized early on.

With the goal, Cicero extended her point streak to four games while Byrne is on a six game scoring streak after collecting two assists. Throughout the contest, Bestland and Dingeldein led the team with a goal and two assists each.

Both teams are back in action at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Saturday, February 8 at 2:00 p.m.