St. Lawrence Cannot Solve Mercyhurst

Photo by Tara Freeman

Final	1	2	3	Final
St. Lawrence (11-4-3, 6-1-1 ECAC)	0	1	0	1
Mercyhurst (12-4-0, 4-0-0 CHA)	1	1	0	2

Scoring Summary
1st - 12:56	PP - Meghan Agosta (Mercyhurst)
2nd - 07:30	PP - Meghan Agosta (Mercyhurst)
2nd - 15:24	Carson Duggan (St. Lawrence)

St. Lawrence	Mercyhurst
G: Carson Duggan - 1 A: 2 Players (#9, #14 - 1) Sh: 3 Players (#7, #12, #13 - 2) Sv: Brittony Chartier - 41	G: Meghan Agosta - 2 A: 3 Players (#16, #18, #21 - 1) Sh: Meghan Agosta - 13 Sv: Hillary Pattenden - 10

TEAM STATISTICS	St. Lawrence	Mercyhurst
Power Plays	0 for 7	2 for 9
Shorthanded Goals	0	0
Penalties (min)	9 (18)	7 (14)
Shots on Goal	11	43
Face Offs Won	17	41

full stats

Boxscore

ERIE, PA -- The St. Lawrence University women’s hockey team withstood another barrage of shots from No. 8 Mercyhurst on Saturday, as the Lakers finished with a 43-11 advantage in shots on goal. However, it was a pair of power play goals including a 5-on-3 tally that would lead Mercyhurst to the weekend sweep with a 2-1 victory against the Saints.

Mercyhurst picked up their ninth consecutive win, improving to 12-4-0 on the year while St. Lawrence was swept by the Lakers for the first time in University history, falling to 11-4-3 on the season.

The Lakers built a solid 16-2 advantage in shots on goal in the opening period, as they consistently peppered

St. Lawrence junior goalie Brittony Chartier throughout the frame. Mercyhurst junior Meghan Agosta, who picked up two goals and an assist in Friday night’s 5-2 victory, scored the lone goal of the period on the power play at 12:56, with an assist going to Ashley Cockell.

The Saints, who had hoped to build on a solid third period in Friday night’s game, faced a critical 5-on-3 penalty kill in the second period when junior Courtney Sawchuk was called for hooking at the same time that the visitors were whistled for too many players on the ice. Though the Lakers had a full two-minute 5-on-3 try, it took only 16 seconds to take a 2-0 lead when Agosta picked up her second of the game at 12th of the season at 7:30 of the second period. Hayley McMeekin and Valerie Chouinard were credited with helpers on the goal.

Despite being outshot 15-6 in the period, St. Lawrence would cut their deficit in half at 15:24 when senior assistant captain Carson Duggan scored her 14th goal of the season. Duggan solved Mercyhurst netminder Hillary Pattenden to get St. Lawrence on the board at 2-1 when she completed a tic-tac-toe play, with assists going to first-year students Vanessa Emond and Alley Bero.

Special teams would prove to be the key to victory on Saturday, as St. Lawrence was simply unable to capitalize on any of their power play tries throughout the game. The visitors finished 0-for-7 with the extra skater, while Mercyhurst was 2-for-9. The Lakers, who were able to kill of three penalties in the final period, continued to use their dynamic offensive prowess and speed to keep the Saints away from Pattenden, outshooting St. Lawrence 12-3 in the final 20 minutes to hang for the 2-1 victory.

Pattenden finished with 11 saves for Mercyhurst to pick up the victory, while Chartier kept her team in the game behind her second consecutive 41-save effort.

“Obviously we would’ve liked to have come down here and played better than we did, but Mercyhurst is a talented team and was extremely well-prepared for these games,” said St. Lawrence head coach Chris Wells. “(Meghan) Agosta showed why she is highly-regarded as one of the best players in the world this weekend, but we’ll need to re-group and come back ready to play hard in 2009.”

The Mercyhurst series completes the opening half of the 2008-09 season for St. Lawrence, who will not be in action again until January 9 and 10 when they welcome nationally-ranked Boston College to Appleton Arena for a pair of games. Following the last non-conference series of the season against the Eagles, the Saints will turn their attention back to ECAC Hockey, where they currently are tied atop of the conference standings.