ERIE, Pa. - Sixty-minutes of regulation action along with Twenty-minutes of overtime were not enough on Wednesday afternoon to settle things between Mercyhurst and the visiting Crimson Hawks of Indiana University of Pennsylvania had to head to the shootout.  Thanks to goals by Clare Ahern, Hayley Skidmore, and Alexis Skibitsky along with three saves from goalie Libby Jones the Lakers earned the hard-fought 2-1 victory at Saxon Stadium.  

It was the third shootout in Mercyhurst history, and the first victory in the format by the Lakers.

Indiana (Pa.) recorded the first two shots of the contest as a pair of attempts from Blaise Cugini sailed wide of the cage.  It was Mercyhurst who would capture the early 1-0 lead at the 7:39 mark when Lizzy Laird spotted Ahern posting up her defender inside the circle she recieved the pass turning around her marker and slotted the ball past keeper Lexi Ciano.  The Crimson Hawks responded just before the end of the first as Juliette Sauter set up Brianna Lubarsky for the equalizing goal with 1:06 left.  

The tight defensive affair continued into the second as each side only recorded one shot.  Cugini sent one wide for the visitors, while the Lakers Katie Goodenow was denied not by the keeper but Sauter who swept the ball off the line.  

It was much the same in the third with neither side really able to mount a sustained offensive push as Brianna Lubarsky forced a stop out of Jones and Madison Macharsky missed wide for the Crimson Hawks.  Mercyhurst lone attempt came with just 17-seconds left when Leah Rogers got loose in the circle, however she her offering was stoppef by visiting goalie Lexi Ciano.

Three different Crimson Hawks had chances for the go-ahead tally in the final frame, but Jones made one stop with under two minutes to go and was helped by her best friend the post on the attempt from Cugini at the 3:09 mark.

Mercyhurst got the first shot of the opening overtime with 5:19 elapased when Abby D'Amato was denied by Ciano.  The rest of the frame was carried by the guests as they recorded seven shots, but was shutdown by five saves from Jones.  

With under two-minutes remaining in the second overtime Kimberly Kelly and Cugini (2) were turned away in a 48-second span.  The Lakers posted the final shot of the extra frames, but the blast from Leah Rogers was swatted away by Ciano resulting in the shootout.  

Ahern was the first shooter and she danced around Ciano for the goal.  Kelly was then held off the board by a diving Jones.  In the second round, Skidmore tacked on goal number two, before Jones once again held stedfast in the cage to keep Lizzi Clemmer off the board.  The third round Alexandria Shumsky and Lubarsky were both stopped by the opposing keeper.  To start the fourth with the game on her stick Skibitsky picked up the ball and deked around Ciano for the game-winning goal.

The Lakers return to action on Friday, September 27 when they welcome the top-ranked Marauders of Millersville University for a 6pm start at Saxon Stadium.