Tournament Page

ERIE, Pa. – The eighth-ranked Mercyhurst University women's hockey team hosts Syracuse University in the College Hockey America semifinals on Friday, March 7 at 4:00 p.m. at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. Winner of the contest will advance to the Championship game on Saturday, March 8 at 3:00 p.m. against the winner of Robert Morris and RIT later Friday evening.

The Laker, reining CHA champions, earned the right to host the College Hockey America Championships after capturing their 13^th consecutive CHA Regular Season title earlier in the regular season with a record of 15-3-2. Mercyhurst is 22-7-4 overall on the season and is ranked eighth in both the USCHO and USA Today/ USA Magazine national polls.

The Lakers are 26-0-2 against the Syracuse including a record of 3-0-1 this season. The Lakers went 1-0-1 against the Orange at the Mercyhurst Ice Center back in November. The Orange took away a 3-3 tie from Mercyhurst before the Lakers battled to a 5-3 win. Seniors Christine Bestland and Christie Cicero lead the team with five points against the Orange this season. Bestland has collected two goals and three assists while Cicero tallied two goals and three assist in just three games.

Currently the Lakers are on a nine game unbeaten streak which is currently third longest standing in the nation. They have continued their unbeaten streak to 19-0-0 after holding the lead heading into the third period. The Lakers have only won two games after trailing heading into the third period (2-6-1) and are 2-1-3 when the score is even. In the final regular season home series, Mercyhurst trailed Lindenwood for the first time in the programs history but sophomore Jenna Dingeldein tallied the tying power-play goal to force overtime.

In the national statistics, the Lakers have two players in the top-25 in points per game, three Lakers in goals per game and four different Lakers in the top-25 in assist per game. Senior Christine Bestland, a recent top-10 finalist for the 2014 Patty Kazmaier Memorial award, is fifth in the nation in scoring averaging 1.52 points per game. Senior Christie Cicero is fourth on the team in points (33) and is shy just two points of the century mark in her career.

Syracuse holds a record of 20-13-3 heading into their second round of the CHA post season. The Orange sweept Lindenwood (4-1; 6-0) last weekend to advance to the CHA semifinals for their third consecutive appearance. Over the weekend, eight different Orange players scored goals which included Melissa Piacentini, Margot Scharfe, and Caitlin Roach whom all had three point weekends. Throughout the regular season, the Orange have defeated three and tied two nationally ranked opponents, finishing 3-5-3 against nationally ranked opponents.