The Mercyhurst women's ice hockey team begins the second half with a two game weekend series at No. 4 Cornell on Jan. 4-5. Puck drops at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday and 1:00 p.m. on Sunday.
 
Last Time Out
Mercyhurst welcomed St. Cloud and won 4-1 on Friday and tied 2-2 the next day.
 
Maggie Knott, Summer-Rae Dobson and K.K. Thiessen had one goal and one assist each. Sarah Nelles scored two goals while single goals were Megan Korzack had one goal. Emily Pinto and Rachel Marmen had two assists while single assists were recorded up Jordan Mortlock, Sam Isbell, Alexa Vasko, Alexandria Weiss and Liliane Perreault.
 
In net, Kennedy Blair made 38 saves on the weekend.
 
Previous Matchup
The Lakers and Big Red met for a weekend series at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. The two teams played to a 4-4 tie and 0-0 tie.
 
Mary Katherine Gialames, Vasko, Perreault, Dobson and Thiessen had points for Mercyhurst. In net, Blair made five saves in the relief effort on Friday.
 
Maddie Mills, Paige Lewis, Willow Slobodzian and Grace Graham had points for Cornell. In net, Lindsay Browning made 27 saves on Friday.
 
All-Time Series
Mercyhurst leads the all-time series 16-9-5 over Cornell. Cornell holds a 4-2-4 advantage in the last 10 games.
 
Scouting the Big Red
Cornell is coming into the weekend with a 11-1-1 record. It is ranked fourth on both national polls. The Big Red are coming off of a 4-1 win over Quinnipiac before the holiday break.
 
Jamie Bourbonnais is leading the roster with 17 assists and 19 points. Maddie Mills is next with 16 points while Amy Curlew and Kristin O'Neill both lead with eight goals.
 
In net, Lindsay Browning has a 11-1-1 record with a .79 goals against average and .965 save percentage. Ally Dalaya has played one period, making seven saves.
 
Bourbonnais is ranked first in the nation with 1.46 points per game as a defenseman. She is tied for fourth in the nation with 1.31 assists per game and 10th in the nation with 1.46 points per game.
 
O'Neill is ranked 10th with 0.73 goals per game.
 
Browning is ranked first in the nation with a .79 GAA and first in the nation with a .965 save percentage.
 
The Big Red are first on the penalty kill and fifth on the power play for a second ranked combined special teams.
 
Laker Outlook
Mercyhurst comes into the second half with a 11-5-2 record.
 
Emma Nuutinen and Isbell are leading the Laker roster with 22 points each. Nuutinen is leading with 11 goals while Isbell is leading with 18 assists. Dobson is next with 17 points while Vasko and Pinto have 15 points each.
 
In net, Blair has a 10-5-2 record with a 1.97 GAA and .924 save percentage. Jenna Silvonen has a 1-0-0 record with a .56 GAA and .958 save percentage.
 
National Polls
The Lakers ended the first half of the season receiving votes on both National Polls. Back on Dec. 9 the Lakers received five votes on the USCHO.com Poll. Mercyhurst also received four votes on the USA Today/Hockey Poll back on Dec. 17.
 
National Rankings
Nuutinen is tied for 12th in the nation with 1.38 points per game and is ranked 13th in the nation with 0.69 goals per game.
 
Isbell is tied for eighth in the nation with 1.00 assist per game.
 
Blair is ranked 14th in the nation with a 1.97 GAA and ranked 15th with a .924 save percentage. She is ranked 11th with a .647 winning percentage.
 
Mercyhurst is ranked seventh with a 3.44 scoring offense. The Lakers are ranked ninth with a 1.89 scoring defense.
 
Special Teams
The Lakers are ranked seventh on the penalty kill going 90.5 percent. They are 10th on the power play with 21.1 percent. The combined special teams is ranked fifth in the nation at 55.8 percent.
 
Next Up
Mercyhurst will head to Syracuse on Jan. 10-11. Puck drops at 7:00 p.m. on Friday and 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.
 
Stay Connected
Keep up with the team by following their social media:
Twitter: @HurstWHockey
Facebook: facebook.com/hurstwhky
Instagram: @HurstWHockey