SYRACUSE, N.Y. – A power-play goal scored by Jillian Skinner in the game's final minute propelled the Mercyhurst women's ice hockey team to a 3-2 win over College Hockey America foe Syracuse on Saturday afternoon.

The win marks the Lakers' third conference win in the past four games. Mercyhurst now has a 7-8-1 record in CHA play this season and improved to 11-0-1 when scoring at least three goals. 

With the game tied with less than two minutes to play, Syracuse' Stephanie Grossi was called for a body-checking penalty which put the Lakers on the power play. With the extra skater, Skinner scored the eventually game-winning goal with 49 seconds left in regulation.

The goal was Skinner's fifth total and her second power-play goal for the season. Rachael Smith and Maggie Knott tallied assists on the game-winner.

After being shut out the night before, the Lakers found the scoring touch in the first period of Saturday's matchup. Nicole Guagliardo scored her fourth of the season at 5:18 assisted by Jennifer MacAskill and Morgan Stacey.

Scoring ceased until the third period when Mercyhurst extended its lead to two. Brooke Hartwick netted her team-leading 15^th of the season at the 11:32 mark in the period. Michele Robillard picked up an assist on the goal.

The Orange had to stage a quick third-period comeback to make Skinner's heroics necessary for the Lakers. Up to that point, the Orange had a tough time figuring out how to score on Lakers' goalie Jessica Convery. Syracuse finally found the back of the net at 17:18 on Jessica Sibley's second of the season. Momentum from Sibley's goal resulting in the game-tying for Syracuse less than a minute later at 18:09 by Stephanie Grossi, her ninth of the season.

For the game, the Lakers had 26 shots on goal to the Orange's 24, a sharp contrast to the 24-14 advantage for Syracuse in Friday's game.
Convery finished with 22 saves in her seventh win of the season.

The Lakers (11-17-2) will host Lindenwood next weekend in their final home series of the season. Friday's game begins at 3 p.m. with Saturday's puck drop set for 1 p.m.