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ITHACA, N.Y. – The seventh-seed Mercyhurst University women's hockey team faces off with second-seed Cornell University at Lynah Rink on Saturday, March 15 in the NCAA Quarterfinals. The rematch of last season's quarterfinal round is set for a 3:00 p.m. faceoff.
Fans can catch all of the action by listening in to John Leisering on WMCE 88.5 FM or online at wmce.fm. There will also be live stats and live video available through Cornell's broadcast. Fans who are planning on making the trip can find out all of the details by clicking
here.
The Lakers (23-8-4) will face Cornell (24-5-4) for the third time this season and the fifth time since last year. Mercyhurst is 1-3-1 against the Big Red in the last five contests and are 0-1-1 this season. In their last meeting, Cornell visited the Mercyhurst Ice Center where both teams skated to a 4-4 tie before the Big Red scored an empty net goals to take away a 6-4 victory.
This is the third meeting in the NCAA playoffs against Cornell with an upset from each program. Last season, the Lakers traveled to Lynah Rink as the seventh-seed and coming off a 4-0 shutout by then second-seeded Big Red earlier in the season. The Lakers stunned Cornell after sophomore
Jenna Dingeldein scored the overtime game-winning goal to advance her team to the NCAA Frozen Four. In 2010, Cornell ended the Lakers season after a 3-2 overtime loss in the NCAA semifinal.
Mercyhurst went 2-for-11 (18%) during their power-play against Cornell during the weekend of January 10-11 at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. The Lakers allowed five of Cornell's 12 power-play attempts find the back of the net for a 41.6% success rate. The Lakers are heading into the weekend ranked fifth in the nation, one spot behind Cornell, on their power-play with a success rate of 19.9%. Mercyhurst is also tenth in their penalty-kill with a 87% success rate.
Cornell is heading into the weekend after capturing their second consecutive ECAC Championship and its fourth in the last five years. Sophomore Cassandra Poudrier scored the only goal to propel her team against No. 3 Clarkson, 1-0. The Big Red are led by Jillian Saulnier (Patty Kazmaier top-three finalist) with her 55 points this season on 28 goals and 27 assists. In the series against Mercyhurst she has collected two goals and three assists. Netminder Lauren Slebodnick, who faced the Lakers in both contests in the series this season, has a record of 17-1-3, a goals against average of 2.27 and a .908 save percentage.
