COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USCHO and USA Hockey both released their women's hockey polls this week, with Mercyhurst coming in at 14th in the nation for the first time this season.
 
No. 14 Mercyhurst (20-10-2, 16-5-1 AHA) was featured in the USCHO poll for the fourth time and the USA Hockey poll for the third time. They were previously No. 15 in those polls. This time around, they received 30 or more votes and passed Minnesota State in the process. 

The Lakers have won their past seven-consecutive games and won nine of their ten in January. They swept Lindenwood, split with No. 4 Penn State, then swept RIT, Robert Morris, and Delaware. They scored four or more goals in seven of those games. In December, they beat Lindenwood 10-1. They currently sit second in the AHA with 45 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, Rookie of the Week for Berlin Lolacher, 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 when they were ranked fourth. 
 
Perjus (15G, 18A, 33 PTS) currently leads the team in goals and points. Julia Schalin (9G, 21A, 30 PTS), Nuutinen (10G, 20A, 30 PTS), Evans (7G, 10A, 17 PTS, 50 BLKS), and Poitras (4G, 11A, 15 PTS, 58 BLKS) are some of the top contributors 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 one series remaining in the regular season against Syracuse on Feb. 13 and 14.