ERIE, PA - The RIT women's hockey team (14-15-5, 7-8-5 AHA) held a 2-0 lead after one period of play, but it wasn't enough, as the No. 9 Mercyhurst women's hockey team (26-6-1, 17-3-0 CHA) roared back to score the game's final five goals en route to a 5-2 win over the Tigers at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Saturday afternoon. It was the regular season finale for both teams. Despite the loss, RIT locked up a share of third place in the College Hockey America Standings and is the No. 3 seed in the upcoming tournament. RIT will host No. 6 Penn State in the best of three CHA first round series next weekend.

RIT came out and dominated the first period, scoring the game's first two goals, while out-shooting the Lakers, 14-7. It was the first time RIT had scored in the first period against Mercyhurst this season and the 14 shots were two more than they fired in the first three contests.

#Marissa Maugeri (Ajax, Ontario/Durham West Lightning) and Tenecia Hiller (Brampton, Ontario/Brampton Thunder) tallied in the opening period just two minutes apart to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Maugeri crashed the net and slid home a pass from (Woodstock, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers)Erin Zach (Elmira, Ontario/Cambridge Fury) after Jess Paton (Woodstock, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers)# made a nice move to get Zach the puck down low. Maugeri was able to slide the puck past Mercyhurst goaltender Stephanie Ciampa for her eighth tally of the year at the 12:16 mark.

Exactly two minutes later, Hiller crashed the net and buried a rebound off a shot from #Kim Schlattman (Stratford, Ontario/Cambridge Fury) for her team-best tying 14th goal of the season. (Woodstock, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers)Katie Hubert (Burlington, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas)# fired a shot that Ciampa sticked aside, but Schlattman won the battle for the loose puck. Her shot from a tight angle was stopped, but Hiller was there for the rebound in tight.

RIT had a golden opportunity to take an even bigger lead at the end of the period, as they were awarded 1:26 of a 5-on-3 power-play, but were unable to convert.

From there, the momentum swung drastically in Mercyhurst's favor. The Lakers thoroughly dominated the final 40 minutes of play, out-shooting RIT 31-6 en route to scoring the final five goals.

RIT was 0-for-5 with the man-advantage, while Mercyhurst was 1-for-7. The Lakers held a 38-20 edge in shots.

Ciampa made 18 saves in the win for RIT, while RIT goaltender #Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs)# stopped 33 shots, including a couple of key breakaways.

Kelsey Welch led the Lakers with a goal and an assist, while Jenna Hendrikx and Christie Cicero had a goal and an assist apiece. Gina Buquet and Stephanie DeSutter also scored for the Lakers.

Mercyhurst scored goals 33 seconds apart in the second period to draw even with RIT, 2-2 after 40 minutes of play. Like yesterday, the Lakers outscored the Tigers by three goals in the third period to get the win. Cicero and Buquet tallied 1:16 apart midway through the third to give the Lakers the lead, and Welch put the game away with an empty-netter with 31 seconds left.

Today's game was the fourth and final regular season meeting between the two schools this season. The two teams met way back in the season opening games for both teams on Sept. 28-29, with Mercyhurst welcoming RIT into the Division I era with 6-2 and 7-0 wins at Ritter Arena. Christine Bestland tallied seven points on three goals and four assists that weekend, while Emily Janiga had a hat-trick in the 7-0 win. Yesterday, Bestland scored two goals, as the Lakers scored three times early in the third period to snap a scoreless tie and defeat RIT, 4-1.

Mercyhurst outscored RIT 11-1 in the third period in the four combined meetings this season and held a 22-5 overall edge.
 
The Tigers will host Penn State University in a best-of-three College Hockey America first round series at Ritter Arena beginning Friday. Times will be officially announced on Monday.