The Mercyhurst women’s hockey team is accustomed to winning conference championships.
The Lakers secured their 10th straight College Hockey America regular-season championship with a 3-0 win against Robert Morris in front of 800 fans at Mercyhurst Ice Center on Friday night.
But Jill Szandzik has waited four years to be a champion.
Szandzik played a leading role in the title-clinching victory against the Colonials (17-9-3, 6-3-2), which entered the game trailing the sixth-ranked Lakers (22-6-2, 8-1-2) by two points in the standings. Szandzik’s first of two goals, scored on the power play, snapped a scoreless tie 5 minutes, 4 seconds into the opening period. She scored again with 3:20 left in the second to hand the Lakers a 2-0 lead.
Senior forward Kelley Steadman capped the scoring on the power play 9:33 into the third with her 30th goal of the season. That was more than enough offense for senior goaltender Hillary Pattenden, who stopped all 25 shots to record her sixth shutout of the season.
Pattenden needs one win to become the first goaltender in NCAA Division I history with 100 career wins.
- Victor Fernandes
SUMMARY
Mercyhurst 3, Robert Morris 0
Robert Morris 0 0 0 — 0
Mercyhurst 1 1 1 — 3
1st Period — 1. Mercyhurst, Jill Szandzik 5 (Higson, B. Bram), 5:04 (pp). Penalties — Pietrangelo (R) tripping, 3:41; S. Bram (M) interference, 9:20; Collias (R) tripping, 18:32.
2nd Period — 2. Mercyhurst, Szandzik 6 (Steadman), 16:40. Penalties — Stack (R) roughing, 13:15; Fergus (R) roughing, 17:27; Pattenden (M) slashing (served by J. Jones), 19:56.
3rd Period — 3. Mercyhurst, Kelley Steadman 30 (B. Bram, J. Jones), 9:33 (pp). Penalties — Fergus (R) hooking, 1:37; Thomas (R) body checking, 9:06; Luczak (M) holding, 15:37; Steadman (M) high sticking, 18:55.
Shots on goal — RMU, 4-9-12—25; Mercyhurst, 15-11-12—38.
Goaltenders — RMU, Kristen DiCiocco 15-9-3 (38 shots, 35 saves); Mercyhurst, Hillary Pattenden 19-6-2 (25 shots, 25 saves).
Power plays — RMU (0-4), Mercyhurst (2-6).
Attendance — 800.
