Erie, Pa.—The Mercyhurst Women's Hockey team finished the opening weekend in convincing fashion defeating Saint Anselm 9-0 to complete the sweep.
How it Happened
The Lakers jumped out to an early lead on Friday night but had to wait a little longer on Saturday to open the scoring. Kylee Mahoney won a face and Sara Boucher fought off a few defenders and threw it towards the net. The netminder stopped it but Thea Johansson was there to clean up the rebound for her first collegiate goal.
Just over four minutes later the Lakers struck again. This time it was the National Rookie of the Year from a season ago. Alexandria Wiess and Liliane Perreault did the dirty work down low and the puck found its way to the front of the net, Vanessa Upson took full advantage to net her second goal of the season.
After the opening 20 minutes the Lakers were up 2-0 despite being outshot in the frame 16-15.
In the middle frame neither team solved each other's goalie but the Lakers controlled play. Mercyhurst outshot the Hawks 18-4 in the period.
The Laker offense exploded for seven goals in the third period. Johansson got back on the scoresheet as she blocked a shot in her own zone and took the puck the other way on a two on one. The Swed decided to take matters into her own hands and ripped one into the top left corner of the net to make it 3-0 just 24 seconds into the period.
Seven minutes later, Mercyhurst struck again. Jordan Mortlock made a d-to-d pass to Mikayla Javier and Javier took a shot from the point. Kylee Mahoney used her hand-eye skills to deflect the puck past the goalie for her second of goal of the season.
Just over a minutes later at the 8:11 mark the Lakers scored once again. Upson once again found a rebound in front of the net and tapped it in as Perreault and Sydney Pedersen picked up assists on the play.
At the 9:46 mark it was time for another goal as Chantal Ste-Croix scored the sixth Laker goal. With the Lakers short-handed, Pedersen intercepted a pass at the red line and Ste-Croix took one shot but it blocked, she then collected her rebound and beat the netminder. That forced the Hawks to switch goalies.
The Saint Anselm backup got a rude awaking as the Lakers scored again under three minutes later. Grace Nelles took a breakout pass and gave it to Marielle Parks who took a shot that was saved, after small scrum in front, Parks found it again and made it 7-0 Lakers.
36 seconds later, Johansson completed her first collegiate hat-trick. Johansson took a pass from Boucher in the slot and made no mistake as she roofed it past the goalie to make it 8-0. Mahoney picked up her third point of the game on the play.
Riley Johnson made her collegiate debut on Saturday and made it one she'll never forget. With less than two minutes remaining Mary Kromer took a shot from the left circle that forced a rebound. Johnson was there to tap the puck into the net and put the game on ice.
Jada Brenon made her Mercyhurst debut and turned away all 23 shots that were thrown her way.
By the Numbers
The seven goals in the third period is first time the Lakers have done that since they beat Lindenwood 14-1 on Oct. 29, 2011. The Lakers used five power-play goals in that game while Lakers failed to convert on the advantage on Saturday.
Mercyhurst also had 57 shots which is the most since the Lakers had 59 against Lindenwood on Feb. 19, 2022.
The Lakers also shutout an opponent for an entire weekend for the first time since Feb. 23 and 24, 2017 when they beat RIT 3-0 on back-to-back days.
Hear From The Team
Coach, You're Up
Up Next
The Lakers get to stay home and continue their eight game homestand as they host Colgate on Friday and Saturday to kickoff homecoming weekend.
