Box Score ITHACA, N.Y. – The Mercyhurst women's ice hockey team lost its first road game of the year 3-1 to the Cornell Big Red on Friday afternoon. The Lakers have lost two straight after earning their first win of the season last Friday against Quinnipiac.
 
Penalties and power plays played an important role throughout the game and Mercyhurst held its own on special teams early. The Lakers killed four Cornell power plays and they also cashed in their second power-play goal of the season 11:53 into the period. Rachael Smith scored on the man-advantage for her second goal of the season with assists awarded to Jillian Skinner and Molly Blasen. The goal gave Mercyhurst the early 1-0 advantage.
 
The lead would be short-lived for the Lakers, as Valarie Audet scored Cornell's first goal of the season at even-strength less than two minutes later at 13:46. The goal was Audet's first career collegiate goal and Lenka Serdar earned the assist on the play. The score went to the first intermission tied 1-1.
 
Mercyhurst went back on the power play early in the second period, but only mustered two shots with one being on net that was saved by Cornell goalie Paula Voorheis.  When back at even-strength, Mercyhurst continued to pressure in the offensive zone but the Lakers' shots didn't register on net as four straight attempts on goal went wide.
 
6:48 into the second period, Mercyhurst had to kill another penalty which they did successfully, but Cornell once again made a play at even-strength to score a goal, this time the go-ahead goal. Another freshman Jaime Bourbonnais netted her first collegiate goal with 10:26 on the clock to pull the big Red ahead 2-1. Pippy Gerace and Kaitlin Doering assisted Bourbonnais on the goal.
 
Mercyhurst had a good chance to tie the game beginning at 13:27 when Kristin O'Neill was called for tripping and sent to the penalty box. On the ensuing power play, Brook Hartwick took two cracks on net but Sydney Smith blocked both attempts. Defensemen Morgan Stacey and Molly Blasen each took shots that got through the defense but were stopped by Voorheis and Mercyhurst failed to convert on the power play. The score remained 2-1 after two periods.
 
In the third period, the Lakers sent a flurry of shots toward Voorheis and while they didn't score, they did draw two Cornell penalties that resulted in two chances with the extra attacker. Mercyhurst was unable to generate any shots on the first power-play and just one on the second that was saved by Voorheis. The third period proved to be the best for Cornell's net-minder, as she stopped 10 of 19 Laker shots in the final 20 minutes.
 
At the 9:46 mark in the period, Cornell went to a power play of its own and the Big Red added insurance to their lead. Erin O'Connor blasted a shot from the point that found its way through traffic and into the net to make it 3-1.

The story of the game for Mercyhurst was the inability to convert power-play chances after scoring a power-play goal in the first period. The Lakers couldn't convert two more chances with an extra attacker after falling behind two, leading to the eventual 3-1 loss. The Lakers were one-of-nine on the power play and are now two-of-28 with an extra skater this season.
 
Mercyhurst (1-3-1) has its chance at revenge against Cornell tomorrow, Oct. 22, as they take on the Big Red again at 3 p.m.