MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. – Robert Morris scored three times in the second period and held on to defeat the Mercyhurst University women's hockey team, 3-2, Saturday afternoon in the finale of a weekend series at 84 Lumber Arena. The Colonials, having lost 2-1 in overtime Friday, improved to 9-15-3 overall and to 6-6-2 in College Hockey America. The Lakers, hoping to solidify their hold on first place in the conference, dropped to 18-7-3 and 9-4-1 respectively.

Mercyhurst saw its lead dwindle to a single point atop the College Hockey America standings with six games remaining in the regular season. Second-place Penn State defeated Syracuse by a 4-2 final on Saturday to close to within one of the Lakers.

The Lakers made things very interesting in the third period after spotting Robert Morris a 3-0 lead after forty minutes. With Mercyhurst working on the power play, junior defenseman J'nai Mahadeo notched her second goal of the season at 6:08 to cut the Colonial lead to 3-1. Junior forward Jenna Dingeldein had the lone assist.

It was Mahadeo's first goal since scoring against Providence in Mercyhurst's second game of the season on October 4.

Dingeldein cut the Robert Morris lead to one with 1:49 left in regulation with Laker backup goaltender, junior Julia DiTondo, on the bench for an extra attacker. The junior forward beat Colonial starting netminder Jessica Dodds for her 14th goal of the season. Freshman forward Sarah Robello had the assist.

Head coach Michael Sisti called a timeout with 33 seconds left and was, again, able to pull DiTondo for an extra attacker. But, the Colonials thwarted the Lakers' attempt at a game-tying goal and held on for the one-goal victory.

Both teams played a very close-to-the-vest first period. Neither team was able to score with Mercyhurst having a slight 7-5 advantage in shots.

The second period, however, was all Robert Morris. Sophomore Mackenzie Johnston broke the scoreless tie at 1:42 and the Colonials extended their lead later with a pair of goals, less than three minutes apart. Senior Maddie Collias cashed a power play chance at 10:41 and freshman Jessica Gazzola put Mercyhurst in a three-goal deficit at 13:43.

Robert Morris outshot Mercyhurst 12-4 in the middle period.

Dodds was the beneficiary of the second period outburst as she improved her record to 7-12-2 after a 20-save performance. Senior Amanda Makela took the loss for the Lakers, turning aside 14-of-17 shots through forty minutes of action. DiTondo only faced three shots in the third and stopped them all. Mercyhurst held an 11-3 shot advantage in the final stanza.

The Lakers went a combined 2-3-1 during the month of January, were outscored 17-10, and fell out of both the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine national polls. Mercyhurst dropped to 2-5-1 in its last eight contests.

Mercyhurst will try to regroup next weekend when it travels to CHA-rival Rochester Institute of Technology for a pair of games. The Lakers defeated RIT twice by identical 4-1 scores last November at the Ice Center. Faceoffs from Rochester are scheduled for 7:05 p.m. on Friday, February 6 and 3:05 p.m. the following afternoon.