No. 13 MERCYHURST (20-10-2, 16-5-1 AHA) vs SYRACUSE (14-15-3, 10-10-2 AHA)
Friday, Feb. 13 - 6 p.m.
Saturday, Feb.14 - 1 p.m. 
Erie, Pa.   
TV: Flo Hockey 
 
The Mercyhurst women's hockey team, fresh off receiving a No. 13 ranking in the USCHO and USA Hockey polls, hosts Syracuse for their final series of the regular season. They currently sit second in the AHA standings and have the first-round bye locked in. The Lakers currently have the third-longest win streak in Division I and are the tied for the fifth-best powerplay conversion in the nation. Game one at the Mercyhurst Ice Center will begin Friday, Feb. 13 at 6 p.m. Puck drop for game two will take place at 1 p.m. the following day for Senior Day. 
 
Previous Results
The Lakers are 20-10-2 this season and 16-5-1 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. Mercyhurst swept RMU at home 5-1 in each game before they swept Delaware for their sixth and seventh-straight win. 
 
Matchup History
Mercyhurst is ahead of the series by a large margin. The all-time record is 62-15-5. The first series took place in the 2008-09 season when the Lakers won game one 4-1 and game two 7-1 both on the road. In fact, the Lakers were 28-0-2 in the first 30 matchups. The first time Syracuse won was at their own barn in the 2014-15 season, 4-1. The Lakers are 28-7-3 at home against the Orange and 7-2-1 in their last 10 overall matchups. They have scored 286 goals on the Orange and are averaging 3.49 goals in each game. Mercyhurst and Syracuse met in the AHA semifinals in March of 2025. Syracuse took game one 1-0, then the Lakers won game two 4-0 and game three 5-2 to advance to the finals. Most recently, in November, the two teams tied 2-2 in game one and the Lakers took game two, 3-2. 
 
Lakers to Look Out for
Julia Perjus (15G, 18A, 33 PTS) leads the Laker's goal column. Perjus has two multi-goal games this season, eight multi-point games, a .556 faceoff win percentage, and has the third-highest net rating on the team with +10. 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. Last month, Perjus scored a game-tying powerplay goal in the dying minute of play against No. 4 Penn State to force overtime. She had three points in a series sweep vs. RMU and then another big showing against Delaware, featuring a goal and a hat trick of assists. Perjus was named the AHA Rookie of the Month for the second consecutive month. 
 
Sofia Nuutinen (10G, 20A, 30 PTS) is on a hot streak as well. She is second on the team in points and second in assists. Since Jan. 1, Nuutinen has 15 points (6G, 9A), which leads the AHA. In the past month, she scored three powerplay goals, two game-winning goals, and had six multi-point games. 
 
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 seventh on the team. The Whitby, Ontario native also has a team-high 58 blocks, which is top 20 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. Last month, 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. 
 
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 (7G, 10A, 17 PTS, 50 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. She recently, had a three-point weekend at Delaware. The Simcoe, Ontario native has four goals and eight assists for 12 points this season. Alenius has two goals and is fifth on the team with 13 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. She picked up her first Goaltender of the Month for January.
 
Tara Bach has proven to be another strong netminder for the Lakers. Bach started in both games at Lindenwood. She only allowed two total goals, recorded 41 saves, and was named the AHA Goaltender of the Week for her efforts. Bach is now 5-1-0 on the season and has won in her last four starts. She has 1.06 goals allowed average and a .941 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. 

Scouting Syracuse 

• The Orange opened their season the same way the Lakers did, hosting No. 5/6. UMD won both games 4-0. 
• Syracuse then swept Stonehill, and independent hockey school, 3-2 and 8-2. 
• They then lost 3-0 and 5-1 to No. 7 Quinnipiac before sweeping Delaware in their first AHA series. 
• They split their series with RIT, winning 5-2 and falling 4-1. 
• At the end of October, they lost to No. 4 Cornell. 
• They then split with Lindenwood, winning 2-1 and losing 4-1. 
• They were then swept by undefeated Penn State. 
• In November, they tied Mercyhurst, 2-2, and beat them in the shootout after before falling 3-2 in game two. 
• They tied No. 5 Cornell, 2-2 and also beat them in the shootout. 
• At the end of November, they swept RPI 3-1 and 3-0. 
• Their lone series in December was a 1-0 loss and 2-2 draw against Robert Morris. 
• To begin the new year, they swept Delaware 3-1 and 4-0. 
• They extended their win streak to four when they swept RMU. No. 4 Penn state beat them again before they split with Lindenwood at home, winning 2-1 and losing 4-0. 
• Most recently, they beat RIT 3-2 and then lost 4-2 in game two.  
• Emma Gnade (8G, 10A, 18 PTS) and Sami Gendron (1G, 4A, 5 PTS, 77 BLKs) lead the team in goals, assists, points, and blocks.