ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT women's hockey team (10-16-3, 4-10-1 CHA) fell 5-1 to College Hockey America leader Mercyhurst (19-7-3, 10-4-1) Friday night from the Gene Polisseni Center.
 
Kolbee McCrea (Wawa, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas) scored RIT's lone goal 5:43 into the game off assists from Marissa Maugeri (Ajax, Ontario/Durham West Lightning) and Christa Vulgar. In goal, Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs) made 26 saves in the loss.
 
Brooke Hartwick scored a pair of goals for the Lakers, while Emily Janiga had a goal and two assists. Shelby Bram and Molly Bryne each netted a goal. Kristen Miller added two assists, while in goal; Julia DiTondo made 16 saves for her third win of the season.
 
Mercyhurst outshot RIT, 31-17. RIT was 0-for-5 with the man-advantage, while Mercyhurst 0-for-3.
 
"We came out afraid tonight," said RIT head coach Scott McDonald. "Mercyhurst came out quicker and we made a lot of mistakes. We need to know what to do with the puck when we get it and we didn't play with that confidence."
 
Mercyhurst scored the first goal of the game 4:41 into the first period. RIT tied the game just over a minute later, as Vulgar stole the puck in the defensive end and passed it up the ice to Maugeri. Maugeri made a quick move around her defender on the right side and dished it to McCrea breaking up the ice. McCrea netted her seventh goal of the season over DiTondo's left shoulder.
 
Mercyhurst scored the eventual game-winner just under three minutes later. The Lakers would go on to score two goals in the second and one in the third to knock off the Tigers.
 
"We need to have a good mentality to go hard and play with heart," said McDonald. "We have to start playing like that because we don't have an option to continue to play this way at this point in the season. We need to learn from this and move and a play hard tomorrow, especially for Part-Time Joe."
 
RIT is now 2-10 all-time against Mercyhurst since the move to Division I in 2012. The Tigers are 1-4 from home ice against the Lakers.
 
Mercyhurst won the first two meetings of the season by identical 4-1 scores on Nov. 21-22.  Celeste Brown (Great Falls, MT/National Sports Academy) scored the only goal for the Tigers the first night and Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic) netted the only goal in game two.
 
The two teams will finish their regular season meetings tomorrow afternoon from the Gene Polisseni Center with the opening puck drop at 3:05 p.m. RIT will honor will honor fifth-year student manager Joe Vicario, better known as "Part Time Joe". RIT will wear special jerseys that will be auctioned off during the game with proceeds going to the Testicular Cancer Foundation of Western New York, which Vicario founded and the Lipson Cancer Center at Rochester General Hospital through the RIT United Way Foundation. Visit http://www.tcafofwny.org/ for more information.
 
Fans will be able to bid on the jerseys via silent auction in the arena and through social media monitored by members of ZETA Tau Alpha. Bids will be able to be placed on the jerseys until the drop of the puck in the third period of the men's game vs. Niagara at 7:05 p.m. Bids will start at $120, with a "Buy it Now" option for $375. Bidders will also be able to utilize the "Buy it Now" only feature via social media outlets on twitter by tweeting @CYPJerseyBids or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CheckYourPucks.