Troy, N.Y. - After splitting a pair of games with then-ranked #10 Clarkson, Mercyhurst Women's Hockey turns their attention to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The Lakers hit the road for the first time in the 2022-23 season, looking to move above .500 with a pair of wins over the Engineers.
1. History vs. RPI
The Lakers are 6-1-1 all-time against the Engineers with Mercyhurst winning each of the last two contests in a pair of home games on Sept. 24th and 25th of last season. Mercyhurst has been able to avoid the six-hour drive to Troy recently as they have not made the trip to RPI since 2016. During that trip, Mercyhurst managed to defeat the Engineer 7-1 on Nov. 18th and 4-1 the following day.
2. Leading the Way
Mercyhurst finds themselves with several players near or atop a handful of leaderboards in the CHA. Thea Johansson is tied for second in the conference in goals (3), assists (3), and points (6) with Kylie Aquara of RIT ahead of her in each category. Vanessa Upson and Chantal Ste-Croix join Johansson on the leaderboards for goals as the trio of Lakers have scored a trio of goals.
3. Golden Goal(ie)
Jada Brenon has been named the CHA Goalie of the week in two of the past three weeks to begin the new campaign. So far this season she has allowed only one goal in 155 minutes with 67 saves to her line for a save percentage of .985. The native of Pendleton, N.Y. has made quite the impression in her first season at Mercyhurst as she is on par to have one of the best seasons of any Laker to play between the pipes. Brenon has been one of the better goalies in the nation to this point with a goals per game average of .39 to lead the CHA while coming in second among goalies to play 100 minutes or more.
4. Road Warriors
Mercyhurst goes on the road for the first time in the 2022-23 season with their pair of away games against RPI. The team's four home games to begin the year is the longest opening home stand since the 2016-17 season when they played their first five games inside the Mercyhurst Ice Center. The Lakers have found it tough sledding on the road of late with them holding a 29-36-5 record when on the visitor's side of the scoreboard over the past five years. Mercyhurst looks for their first winning record on the road since the 2015-16 campaign when they went 8-7-2 away from Erie and 19-11-5 overall.
5. Scouting RPI
The Engineers have gotten off to a slow start as the team currently sits 0-4-0 on the year. The offense for RPI has not gotten off to the start they had hoped for, scoring only two goals in their four games so far. Amanda Rampardo has been consistent in the net for RPI so far this season with appearances in three of the team's four games for a total of 177 minutes played while boasting a save percentage of .907. RPI looks to spread the puck around as no one player has done the heavy lifting on offense as four different players are tied for the team lead in points. In the faceoff circle, the Engineers have won 55.4 percent of faceoffs with Marah Wagner having won 56.8 percent of her faceoffs to lead the team.
