Ashley Harper, a senior goaltender on the 2010-11 Mercyhurst College women’s hockey team, was named College Hockey America’s top scholar athlete, the conference announced Thursday.

She also joined 65 other student-athletes on the CHA All-Academic Team. She was joined by teammates Vicki Bendus, Stephanie Ciampa, Meghan Corbett, Lauren Jones, Melissa Lacroix, Kyleigh Palmer, Kelley Steadman and Pamela Zgoda.

The Mercyhurst men’s hockey team had six players named to the Atlantic Hockey Association’s All-Academic Team – Grant Blakey, Steve Cameron, Randy Cure, Patrick Goebel, Nick Jones and Max Strang.

PITTSBURGH – The Mercyhurst College women’s hockey team wasted no time on Saturday.

The fourth-ranked Lakers scored four goals on their first nine shots to complete a College Hockey America sweep with a 7-1 win against Robert Morris in front of 181 at RMU’s Island Sports Center.

The Lakers (20-5-0, 9-0-0 CHA) scored three times on eight shots in the game’s opening 13 minutes to take a 3-0 lead. Then 1:14 into the second period, sophomore defenseman Samantha Watt scored his first goal of the season and third of his career on the Lakers’ first shot of the period.

Thea Imbrogno’s goal with 2:34 left in the second ended Hillary Pattenden’s shutout bid. But Meghan Agosta scored her team-leading 26^th goal of the season 37 seconds later. She recorded her nation-best 62^nd point by assisting on Jesse Scanzano’s goal 27 seconds into the third.

Scanzano had two goals and an assist. Freshman Christine Bestland had a career-high four assists. Agosta (goal, assist), Pamela Zgoda (two goals), Kyleigh Palmer (goal, assist) and Vicki Bendus (two assists) added two points apiece. Pattenden had 25 saves. RMU fell to 4-18-3 overall and 1-7-1 in CHA play.

SUMMARY

Mercyhurst 7, Robert Morris 1

Mercyhurst  3  2  2  —  7

Robert Morris  0  1  0  —  1

1^st Period — 1. Mercyhurst, Pamela Zgoda 3 (Bendus, Bestland), 7:26. 2. Mercyhurst, Kyleigh Palmer 1 (Bendus, Bestland), 9:38. 3. Mercyhurst, Jesse Scanzano 15 (Palmer, Bestland), 13:15. Penalties — Rossler (M) slashing, 14:11; Mercyhurst, too many players on the ice, 18:19; Agosta (M) roughing, 18:42.

2^nd Period — 4. Mercyhurst, Samantha Watt 1 (Scanzano), 1:14. 5. RMU, Thea Imbrogno 7 (O’Malley, Newsom), 17:26. 6. Mercyhurst, Meghan Agosta 26 (Lacroix), 18:03 (sh). Penalties — Lacroix (M) tripping, 2:38; Schols (M) cross checking, 3:24; Newsom (R) hooking, 3:58; Pietrangelo (R) holding, 6:09; Kindret (R) cross checking, 10:29; Stack (R) body checking, 13:03; Scanzano (M) roughing, 13:03; Pappas (R) roughing, 13:03; Bendus (M) slashing, 17:54; Delaney (R) hooking, 18:35.

3^rd Period — 7. Mercyhurst, Scanzano 16 (Agosta), :27 (pp). 8. Mercyhurst, Zgoda 4 (Cicero, Bestland), 16:25. Penalties — Lacroix (M) tripping, 4:31; Stoa (R) interference, 10:57; Zgoda (M) hooking, 19:46.

Shots on goal — Mercyhurst, 8-15-10—33; Robert Morris, 13-9-4—26.

Goaltenders — Mercyhurst, Hillary Pattenden 18-5-0 (26 shots, 25 saves); Robert Morris, Meeri Raisanen 1-5-0 (9 shots, 5 saves), Daneca Butterfield (24 shots, 21 saves).

Power plays — Mercyhurst (1-6), Robert Morris (0-7).

Referees — Jeff Shernan, Joe Sherman. Linesmen — Jeff Pickering, Steve Walters.

Attendance — 181.

Behind a balanced attack that saw seven different players score a goal, the Mercyhurst College women’s hockey team disposed of Wilfred Laurier, 7-0, in an exhibition contest Saturday afternoon at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.

The Lakers, playing without the services of six players, including senior captains Meghan Agosta, Vicki Bendus and Jesse Scanzano due to Hockey Canada’s evaluation camp, overwhelmed the Golden Hawks in their first and only tune-up before the start of the regular season.

Overall, 10 players got on the stat sheet, with senior Cassea Schols leading the way with a one-goal, three-assist effort. Senior Kylie Rossler, junior Kelley Steadman, sophomores Lauren Jones and Samantha Watt and freshman Christie Cicero each recorded a goal and an assist. JuniorKyleigh Palmer pocketed two points as well with a pair of assists. Junior Pamela Zgoda scored once and junior Meghan Corbett and freshman Lauren Barnes each dished out an assist.

Mercyhurst outshot Wilfrid Laurier 33-25 and rolled to its exhibition rout with two goals in the first period, three in the second and two more in the third. Three of those scores came on the power play with the Lakers converting 3-for-11 with the extra-man advantage. The penalty kill, meanwhile, squashed all seven Wilfrid Laurier power-play opportunities.

Junior Hillary Pattenden earned the decision in goal with 13 stops over 40 minutes of action. Sophomore Stephanie Ciampa finished out the game with 12 saves in the third period.

Wilfrid Laurier’s Kristen Kilgallen suffered the loss with 18 saves through the first two periods before Rachel Hamilton came in relief in the third, recording eight saves and allowing two goals. Mercyhurst opens the 2010-11 campaign on Oct. 1 when the Lakers welcome St. Cloud State for a 7 p.m. contest at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.

- From Mercyhurst news release