ERIE, Pa. - The Wayne State University women's hockey team (8-16-1, 1-9-1 CHA) had a pair of one-goal leads but ultimately fell,
6-2, to fourth-ranked Mercyhurst College (23-5-0, 12-0-0 CHA) on Friday night at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.
The Lakers erased a 2-1 deficit with five goals in a seven-minute span, including two by Meghan Agosta who finished with a hat trick and became the NCAA all-time leader in career points.
Mercyhurst more than quadrupled WSU's shot total, 57-14. Junior goaltender
Delayne Brian (Winnipeg, Man./Notre Dame Hounds) made a career-high 51 saves, setting one school record and finishing just shy of another.
With 28 saves in the second period, Brian broke the program record for saves in a period, previously held by Kelly Zamora who had 24 at Mercyhurst on Feb. 2, 2002. Brian finished five saves short of the single-game mark set by Tina Thibideau (56) at Harvard on Jan. 4, 2003.
Jaclyn Stapleton (Westbank, B.C./Pursuit of Excellence) opened the scoring at 12:21 in the first period, putting home a rebound from the left side.
Adrianna Pfeffer (Farmington Hills, Mich./Belle Tire) and
Micheline Frappier (Val Caron, Ont./Sudbury Lady Wolves) earned assists on the play.
Agosta's first of the game came on a power-play at 4:03 of the second as she scored on a wrist shot from high in the slot, but
Lauren Coxon (Kitchener, Ont./Waterloo KW Rangers) answered with her first career goal at 5:56, tucking in an off-balance backhand shot off a rebound. Assisting on the goal were
Julie Ingratta (Markham, Ont./North American Hockey Academy) and
Alyssa Baldin (Mississauga, Ont./Mississauga Jr. Chiefs).
With less than 10 seconds left in the period, Agosta banged in a one-timer off a feed from Vicki Bendus to tie the score.
Bendus scored the game-winner at 3:46 of the third, and at 4:08 a wrister from the slot by Jesse Scanzano made it a 4-2 game.
Bailey Bram and Agosta added to the scoring barrage, lighting the lamp 61 seconds apart.
Wayne State and Mercyhurst will meet again tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.
NOTES
WSU has lost the last 13 meetings with Mercyhurst … Frappier has a point in five of the last six games including three straight … she tied her career-high with nine points this season … Agosta had 15 shots, one more than WSU as a team.
