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ROCHESTER, NY – No. 10 Mercyhurst (2-0-0, 2-0-0 College Hockey America) scored seven times over the final two periods to hand the RIT women's hockey team (0-2-0, 0-2-0 College Hockey America) its second straight loss, 7-0 in front of 630 fans at Ritter Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Emily Janiga scored the hat-trick and added an assist for the Lakers, who out-shot RIT, 39-17. Christine Bestland scored twice and dished out a pair of assists, while Shelby Bram and Kelsey Welch also scored. In net, goaltender Stephanie Ciampa made 17 saves to record the shutout.

RIT goaltender #Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs)# suffered her first collegiate loss in net for RIT, stopping 32 shots.

The Lakers were 3-for-9 with the power-play, while RIT was 0-for-8. RIT killed off Mercyhurst's first 14 power-play attempts of the weekend, before the Lakers scored three times with the man-advantage over the final 33 minutes.

Neither team scored in a penalty-filled first period in which RIT had five power-plays, Mercyhurst, four, and only 7:43 of the frame was played at 5-on-5. RIT enjoyed two 5-on-3 advantages of over a minute, but were unable to convert.

Overall, the Lakers out-shot RIT 10-6 over the first 20 minutes of play. The Lakers blocked 14 RIT shots, while the Tigers had nine shot blocks of their own.

#Kristina Moss (Webster, NY/Buffalo Bisons)# had RIT's best chance of the period, firing a hard slap shot past Ciampa, but off the left post and out from the right face-off circle. Ciampa made a brilliant glove save on #Katie Hubert (Burlington, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas)# from the slot on a rush later in the period.

Binnington was sharp from the start, as she robbed Lauren Jones with a right pad save from point blank range in the opening minutes. Later in the period, she gobbled up a handful of shots on a Mercyhurst power-play, keeping the game scoreless.

The Lakers took control in the second period, scoring three times, out-shooting RIT, 15-5. Janiga tallied her first goal of the contest 8:15 into the period, taking a feed from Bestland in the neutral zone, skating into the RIT end and putting a low wrist shot between the pads of Binnington from about 25 feet out.

Janiga made it 2-0 Lakers just under five minutes later, redirecting a shot from Christie Cicero past Binnington on the power-play at the 13:11 mark. The referees conferred to discuss if the puck was hit with a high stick, but it was eventually ruled a goal.

Bram gave the Lakers a 3-0 lead with 1:13 left in the period, sneaking a pass from Bestland past Binnington from in tight off the rush.

The Lakers poured it on in the third period, scoring four times in a span of 8:20. Bestland scored a nifty goal at the 3:40 mark to make it 4-0, while Welch converted a rebound off a shot from Vaila Higson 1:18 later for a 5-0 lead. Janiga completed the hat-trick on the power-play to make it 6-0, while Bestland completed the scoring with a wicked wrist shot over the glove of Binnington to complete the scoring.

Last night, Mercyhurst scored twice in the opening 18 seconds and led 6-0 4:45 into the second period en route to a 6-2 win in front of 1,055 fans at Ritter Arena. Freshmen #Katie Hubert (Burlington, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas) and Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic)# scored RIT's goals, while Bestland tallied a goal and added a pair of assists for the Lakers.

It is the first time RIT has lost two consecutive games since losing twice in a row at SUNY Plattsburgh on Jan. 22-23, 2010.

RIT returns to action on Friday and Saturday, traveling to Sacred Heart for a pair of non-conference contests against the Pioneers. Friday's contest begins at 7 p.m., while Saturday's game starts at 2 p.m.