ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst field hockey team finally had a chance to play in front of their home crowd on Saturday morning and the competition did not make things easy as the second-ranked West Chester University Golden Rams came into Saxon Stadium.  The Lakers got 13 saves from goalie Libby Jones, but it was not enough as three first quarter goals by the visitors downed the host 3-1.  

The visitors wasted little time getting on the board as Katie Thompson took a feed from Emma Velez 2:36 in and tapped it home for a 1-0 lead.  Then, just 57-seconds later Caitlin Kelly burried an unassisted tally for a quick 2-0 edge.  Mercyhurst recorded the next two shots as Alexis Skibitsky forced a save out of Claire Nelson and one went wide.   With just under two minutes left in the frame the Golden Rams made it 3-0 when Sydney Ostroski found Kelly at the right post for the quick tap-in stretching the margin to 3-0 after one.  

West Chester came out strong in the second posting five shots in the opening seven minutes that were all answered by Jones between the pipes.  The Lakers found the net with 5:39 remaining in the half when a penalty corner inserted by Mia D'Amato found Leah Rogers who hit Clare Ahern  on the right side of the circle and she ripped it past Nelson to trim the gap to 3-1 at the half.

Mercyhurst did not record a shot in the third, but the Golden Rams mustered six forcing four Jones saves to keep the score at just 3-1.  

The fourth was more defensive as there were only three shots recorded in the final 15, but no one found the cage and the game ended 3-1.

Mercyhurst returns to action on Friday, September 20 when they travel to top-ranked Shippensburg University for a 6pm start.