No. 15 MERCYHURST (18-10-2, 14-5-1 AHA) at Delaware (2-26-0, 1-19-0 AHA)
Friday, Jan. 30 - 6 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 31 - 2 p.m. 
Newark, Del. 
TV: Flo Hockey 
 
The Mercyhurst women's hockey team, fresh off receiving a No.15 ranking in the USCHO and USA Hockey polls, travels to Delaware for their final road series of the regular season. They currently sit second in the AHA standings. A series sweep would put the Lakers in a prime position heading into the final week of the regular season. This would put them closer to securing the two seed in the AHA and get a first-round bye. Game one at the Fred Rust Ice Arena will take place Friday, Jan. 30 at 6 p.m. Puck drop for game two will begin at 2 p.m. the following day. 
 
Previous Results
The Lakers are 18-10-2 this season and 14-5-1 in AHA play. They hosted No. 5/6 Minnesota Duluth in their first series. Game one ended 4-3 in overtime and game two ended 5-3. The second series was on the road at New Hampshire where they swept the Wildcats. Game one ended 3-2 and game two finished in a 4-0 shutout. The Lakers then hosted No. 10 St. Lawrence in a series split. The Lakers picked up their second shutout of the season in game one, 1-0, and dropped game two 3-0. Mercyhurst then played No. 6 Penn State on the road. The Nittany Lions proved to the toughest opponent yet as they took the series 3-0 and 6-1. The Lakers then hosted No. 8/9 UConn. The two sides played to a 1-1 draw in game one. The second game featured seven goals, with the Huskies prevailing 4-3. 
 
Mercyhurst then swept Delaware. The Lakers won the first game 3-2 in OT and blanked the Blue Hens 4-0 in game two. They then swept RMU 5-1 and 7-2, earning a pair of AHA Player of the Week nominations in the process. The Lakers then split their series with RIT at home as both games ended 1-0. At Syracuse, game one ended in a 2-2 tie where the Orange took the shootout. The Lakers edged them in game two, 3-2. Over Thanksgiving, Mercyhurst traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to compete in the Smashville Showcase. They beat Stonehill 6-1 in Michael Sisti's 600th career win. They fell 5-1 to No. 1 Wisconsin in their second game. In the beginning of December, the Lakers split a series with Lindenwood. They took game one with a commanding, 10-1 victory before falling 5-2 in game two. 
 
The Lakers began 2026 with a series sweep over Lindenwood. They won 5-1 in game one and Abby Poitras scored with 1.6 seconds left on the clock in overtime to secure a 2-1 victory in game two. Mercyhurst then split their series with No. 4 Penn State. The Nittany Lions took game one 3-0. In game two, the Lakers scored three powerplay goals and took PSU to OT. Payten Evans scored the game-winning goal to secure the upset. The Lakers then swept RIT in a series between No. 2 and No. 3 in the AHA. They won 5-3 in game one and Poitras scored her second OT winner of the month in the 2-1 win in game two. This was the third consecutive series where a Laker blueliner has scored an game-winner in OT of game two. Most recently, Mercyhurst swept RMU at home 5-1 in each game.
 
Matchup History
Mercyhurst is 2-0-0 against Delaware all time. This is just the second series between the two. Delaware was just added as the 45th team in Division I women's hockey. The Lakers went into the first series with an undefeated record in inaugural conference matchups. The Blue Hens are the only team to take MU to OT in their inaugural matchup. In game two of the series, the Lakers shutout Delaware 4-0. Here are the results from each of those matchups: RMU 12/9/05 W 5-1, Syracuse 11/15/08 W 4-1, Lindenwood 10/28/11 W 7-0, RIT 9/28/12 W 6-2, Penn State 11/30/12 W 5-0, Delaware 3-2 OT.
 
Lakers to Look Out for
Julia Perjus (14G, 15A, 29 PTS) leads the Laker's goal column. Perjus has two multi-goal games this season, seven multi-point games, a .551 faceoff win percentage, and has the third-highest net rating on the team with +8. The Stockholm native scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win against No. 10 St. Lawrence in the Laker's second home series. Perjus had a three-point game against Stonehill, scoring one and assisting two others. She also had a five-point weekend against Lindenwood in December. She recorded a career-high four assists in game one and netted a powerplay goal in game two. She earned AHA Rookie of the Week and Month honors for this performance. A few weeks ago, Perjus scored a game-tying powerplay goal in the dying minute of play against No. 4 Penn State to force overtime. Most recently, she had three points in a series sweep vs. RMU.
 
Julia Schalin is another forward who has been on an impressive run of form with nine goals and a team-high 21 assists for 30 points. Schalin had a league-high five points at RMU, scoring 2 goals and registering three assists. The reigning AHA Rookie of the Year earned her first AHA Forward of the Year award after that performance. The Espoo, Finland native also scored two goals in a 2-2 matchup against Syracuse in November. 
 
Schalin recorded a hat trick of assists in the team's 6-1 win over Stonehill. She then had a five-point weekend against Lindenwood at home. This featured a hat trick and an assist in game one and another assist in game two. This was her second career hat trick, and she was named AHA Forward of the Week for this performance. Schalin recorded a hat trick of assists in the team's 5-1 win on the road at Lindenwood in December. Most recently, she had four points in the Laker's recent sweep vs. RMU. Her star performances with the Lakers have played a massive role in her selection on the Finland Olympic Team for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. 
 
Sofia Nuutinen (10G, 18A, 28 PTS) is on a hot streak as well. She is third on the team in points and second in assists. Since Jan. 1, Nuutinen has 13 points (6G, 7A). This is tied for first in the AHA. She was recently named the AHA 
 
Defensively, Poitras and Evans have been all over the ice. Poitras recorded four assists in the series against RMU, and her 10 total assists are tied with Evans for fifth on the team. The Whitby, Ontario native also has a team-high 54 blocks, which is 16th in the nation. Poitras netted the game-winning goal in the Laker's 2-1 overtime win at Lindenwood with 1.6 seconds on the clock. A couple weeks ago, she netted the game-winning goal in the 2-1 win at RIT to earn AHA Defenseman of the Week honors. She has three game-winning goals since Jan. 1, which is tied for second in the nation. 
 
Evans had a great series against Lindenwood when the two sides played in Erie in December. The Calgary, Alberta native scored a powerplay goal and registered a hat trick of assists in the 10-1 win in game one. She also scored and assisted in game two. For these efforts, Evans was named the AHA Defenseman of the Month for December. Evans also scored the game-winning goal in overtime to secure a 4-3 upset victory over No. 4 Penn State. This goal and her eight blocks on the weekend led to her being named AHA Defenseman of the Week. Evans (5G, 10A, 15 PTS, 45 BLKS) is second on the team in blocks and leads all Laker blueliners in points. 
 
Maja Alenius and Holly VanNetten are two freshman defenders who have contributed to the Laker's success this season. VanNetten was named the AHA Defender of the Week in November after assisting the game-winning goal in overtime against Delaware and recording a multi-point game in the 4-0 win in game two. The Simcoe, Ontario native has three goals and six assists for nine points this season. VanNetten recently had a three-point weekend against RMU featuring a powerplay goal. Alenius has two goals and is fifth on the team with ten assists. Two of those assists came in the 4-3 OT win over No. 4 Penn State. 
 
Magdalena Luggin started between the pipes against No. 5/6 Minnesota Duluth and recorded a then career-high 47 saves in the first game and another 28 saves in the second game. Luggin was the winning netminder in game one of the New Hampshire series. The Austrian native then posted 25 saves and a shutout victory against No. 10 St. Lawrence, which led to her being named the AHA Goaltender of the Week. 
 
Luggin made 37 saves in a 1-1 draw against No. 8/9 UConn and 30 saves in the 4-3 loss. She recorded a league-high 59 saves against RMU. This helped her earn her second AHA Goaltender of the Week award. A few weeks ago, she made 24 saves and recorded her second shutout of the season in the Laker's 1-0 win against RIT. After Thanksgiving, she registered a new career-high 56 saves against No. 1 Wisconsin. Luggin was named AHA Goaltender of the Week after she made 41 saves in the series sweep over RIT. She was then named AHA GOTW again after posting 54 saves and a 1.000 goals allowed average throughout the Laker's sweep of RMU.
 
Tara Bach has proven to be another strong netminder for the Lakers. Bach started in both games against Lindenwood last weekend. She only allowed two total goals, recorded 41 saves, and was named the AHA Goaltender of the Week for her efforts. Bach is now 4-1-0 on the season and has won in her last three starts. She has 1.08 goals allowed average and a .946 save percentage. 

Off campus, she has been competing with the German U18 National Team. Bach was recently named the Goaltender of the Tournament at the U18 IIHF World Championship. Here, she posted a 5-1-0 record, 0.99 goals allowed average, .947 save percentage, and made 91 saves. This helped promote the Germany U18 team to the highest division of play alongside big teams such as the U.S. and Canada. 
 
AHA Weekly/Monthly Awards 


Scouting Delaware 

• The Blue Hens are 2-26-0 overall and 1-19-0 in AHA play. 
• They dropped their opening series at home against LIU. 
• They picked up their first win as a program in a split series against Holy Cross where they won 2-1. 
• They took Syracuse, Mercyhurst, and Brown to OT in the earlier going of the season. 
• In that first series against the Orange, they narrowly lost 2-1 in OT and 1-0 in the second game. 
• On Nov. 14, they split a conference series with Lindenwood where they won 5-3 in game one. 
• Since then, they have a tough stretch of games against Union, RIT, Syracuse, and Penn State. 
• Kaitlin Finnegan (7G, 3A, 10 PTS), Katelynn Charlton (5G, 5A, 10 PTS), and Lexi Lonask (1G, 4A, 5 PTS, 120 BLKS) lead the Blue Hens in goals, assists, points, and blocks. 
• Lonask's 120 blocks are first in the nation. The closest skater to her has 95.