Feb. 22, 2008

Box Score

DETROIT - A school-record 435 fans saw the Wayne State University women's hockey team fall 4-1 to #7 Mercyhurst in a CHA showdown Friday night at the City Sports Center. With the loss, WSU (18-8-3, 6-2-1 CHA) falls out of a tie atop the conference standings while MC (22-6-3, 7-1-1) moves into sole position of first place.

Despite playing with a depleted line up void of Meghan Agosta, Mercyhurst was able to cash in with three goals on costly WSU turnovers and defensive breakdowns while holding the nation's fourth ranked offense to only one goal and a 1-for-9 power-play mark.

Junior Sam Poyton (Hamilton, Ont./Stoney Creek Sabres had WSU's lone tally while juniors Lindsay DiPietro (Manotick, Ont./Ottawa Lady Senators) and Melissa Boal (Pakenham, Ont./Ottawa Raiders increased their scoring streaks to 15 and 14 games respectively with a helper each.

Mercyhurst was led by Stephanie Jones who had a goal and assist while Valerie Chouinard led the team with two assists. Hayley McMeekin also tallied the game-winning power-play goal.

MC goalie Laura Hoiser picked up the win with 32 saves while senior Valery Turcotte (Jonquiere, Quebec/Royal Metabetchouan) made 25 saves in the losing effort.

WSU took an early 1-0 lead in the first period as Poyton buried home a shot in front of the crease on tic-tac-toe passing from DiPietro and Boal.

The lead would hold until the 12:02 mark of the second period. WSU turned the puck over at the MC blueline to Vicki Bendus who in turn hit Jones, who was cherry picking about 10 feet behind the last Warrior defender, with a long pass. Jones then skated in alone and beat Turcotte to tie the score at 1-1.

Once again, WSU could not hold on to the puck midway through the third period. With a man down, the Warriors failed to clear the zone as Geena Prough took the puck at the blueline and skated in on a rush with Jesse Scanzano, Chouinard and McMeekin. Scanzano got the puck to Chouinard who let lose a shot which rebounded off Turcotte and was stuffed home by McMeekin for the power-play goal and 2-1 advantage.

Mercyhurst added an insurance marker at the 12:37 mark as WSU turned the puck over to Chouinard inside the slot in front of Turcotte who then found Scanzano skating in for the score. The Lakers also added an empty netter to seal the 4-1 win.

The series finale between WSU and MC is set for Saturday, Feb. 23 at 2:00 p.m.