COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USCHO and USA Hockey both released their women's hockey polls this week, with Mercyhurst coming in at 15th in the nation for the third time this season.
 
No. 15 Mercyhurst (18-10-2, 14-5-1 AHA) was featured in the USCHO poll for the third time and the USA Hockey poll for the second time. They received 20 or more points in each poll and knocked St. Cloud State off the charts. 
 
The Lakers have won their past five consecutive games and have won seven of their eight in January. They swept Lindenwood, split with No. 4 Penn State, swept RIT, swept Robert Morris in and scored 4 or more goals in five of those games. In December, they beat Lindenwood 10-1. They currently sit second in the AHA with 39 points. 
 
Since then, the Lakers have collected multiple weekly and monthly AHA honors, including Goaltender of the Week awards for Tara Bach and Magdalena Luggin (twice), Forward of the Week honors for Sofia Nuutinen (twice), Rookie of the Month for Julia Perjus, and Defenseman of the Week and Month accolades for Payten Evans.
 
Mercyhurst has faced several ranked opponents this season. They played No. 5/6 Minnesota Duluth, No. 10 St. Lawrence, No. 6 and No. 4 Penn State, No. 8/9 Connecticut, and No. 1 Wisconsin. They beat St. Lawrence, tied Connecticut, and beat Penn State in their current No. 4 ranking. 
 
Julia Schalin (9G, 21A, 30 PTS) currently leads the team in points. Schalin is now off to represent Team Finland at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. Perjus (14G, 15A, 29 PTS), Nuutinen (10G, 18A, 28 PTS), Evans (5G, 10A, 15 PTS, 45 BLKS), and Poitras (3G, 10A, 13 PTS, 54 BLKS) lead the team in goals, assists, points, and blocks. Evans netted the game-winning goal in overtime vs. No. 4 Penn State and Poitras netted the overtime winner against Lindenwood and RIT. 
 
The Lakers have two series remaining in the regular season. They have a road series at Delaware this upcoming weekend and then have a week off before hosting Syracuse.