ERIE, Pa. - Exactly one year ago to the date the Mercyhurst women's lacrosse team took to the turf and defeated Slippery Rock.  Today they picked up right where they left off as nine different players hit the back of the net, including hat tricks from Paige Cocina, Sarah Kaska and Julia Ruscio as the 22nd-ranked Lakers ran away from the host Gannon University by a score of 17-3 in the season and conference opener for both sides.

Gannon struck first 5:23 into the contest as Rachel Tufts slipped a shot by Kaitlyn Lippert for the early lead.  However the rest of the period belonged to Mercyhurst starting with Ruscio picking up her first in a Lakers jersey on a setup from Gabby McGinn for the tie.  Cocina then took over for the Green and Blue as she netted three straight with two coming unassisted and one created by McGinn to make it 4-1 with 12:27 left.  Mercyhurst would add four more in the half with Victoria Gottorff, Torie Sullivan, Cook and Kaska each hitting the back of the net once for an 8-1 lead at the break.  

It took Mercyhurst just 1:32 into the second-half to increase their advantage as Kaska buried her second of the day on a shot inside the circle.  Emma Ivory stunted the Lakers charge for a brief moment with a tally at 27:09.  However, the Lakers picked up three quick ones in less than a minute when Ruscio, Kaska and Cook all netted unassisted markers.  Gottorff notched her second on an assist by Marissa Comerate and Julia Recott capitalized on a nice find from McGinn to extend the margin to 14-2.  Ruscio finished her hat trick with 16:46 remaining and then Meghan Nasman and Lauren Cain both scored free position goals to complete the Mercyhurst scoring.

Team Stat Pack
Shot Attempts - Hurst, 39 / Gannon, 12 
Shots on Goal - Hurst, 34 / Gannon, 8
Clears - Hurst, 17-19 / Gannon, 12-21
Draw Controls - Hurst, 14 / Gannon, 7
Ground Balls - Hurst, 18 / Gannon, 16
Turnovers - Hurst, 13 / Gannon, 21
Free-Position Attempts - Hurst, 2-5 / Gannon, 2-6

Mercyhurst Individual Stats
Points - Gottorff (4), Cocina, Kaska, McGinn and Ruscio (3)
Goals - Cocina, Kaska, and Ruscio (3), Gottorff and Cook (2)
Assists - McGinn (3), Gottorff (2)
Draw Controls - Gajan (4), Cook and Sullivan (3)
Saves - Lippert (5)

Gannon Individual Stats
Goals - Ivory, Tufts, and Woodworth (1)
Draw Controls - Uhrig (3), Ivory and Tufts (2)
Saves - Renwick (13)

On Deck 
The Lakers take to the home field for the first time in 2021 when they play both Walsh (12pm) and D'Youville (4pm) on Sunday afternoon at Saxon Stadium.