Warriors split with #7 Mercyhurst

The Wayne State Warriors reached yet another milestone in the development of their program as they split with the 7th ranked Mercyhurst Lakers over the weekend at the City Sports Center in Detroit.

The split gave the Warriors a 2-1-1 season mark against their foes from Erie, PA, marking the first time the Green and Gold have taken the season series.

“I challenged our girls and they stepped up to plate,” said Wayne State Warrior head coach Jim Fetter. “Everyone knows their role and they did what was expected of them. They really showed a lot of character.”

A record 435 fans filled the arena on Friday night for Pack the Rick and “Doc” Andrews Scholarship Night, but unfortunately watched the Warriors fall by a score of 4-1.

Sam Poyton notched the Warriors lone goal with a power-play goal at 5:28 of the first period. Poyton took a tic-tac-toe pass from Lindsay DiPietro and Melissa Boal and buried it from just in front of MC goaltender Laura Hosier for her 33rd of the year.

The Lakers went on a blitz from there, scoring four straight goals to take the win.

Stephanie Jones, Hayley McMeekin, Ashley Cockell, and Jesse Scanzano all scored for the Lakers and Hosier made 32 saves in net.

Valery Turcotte stopped 25 for WSU.

WSU finished the night 1-9 on the power-play and MC ended up 1-5 with the man advantage.

Saturday afternoon it looked like the Lakers might run away with it, but the Warriors staged a monumental comeback and pulled out a dramatic 3-2 overtime win.

Scanzano and Jones scored first and second power-play goals respectively to give Mercyhurst a 2-0 lead after forty minutes of play.

The Warriors came alive in the third as Poyton notched a 4-on-4 goal at 14:57 to get WSU on the board.

Line mate Melissa Boal scored the equalizer less than two minutes later, forcing the third overtime game in the season series.

Chelsea Burnett assisted on both Poyton and Boal’s third period goals.

At 2:02 of overtime, Lindsay DiPietro started the play by getting the puck into the Mercyhurst end. Katrina Protopapas took the initial shot and Poyton was there to slam in the rebound for her 35th of the season.

Turcotte made 31 saves in net for WSU. Hosier stopped 22 for MC.

For her three goal, one assist effort vs. MC, Poyton was named the CHA Offensive Player of Week. It’s is the fifth time this year Poyton has earned the award.

“I’m pretty sure we’re going to be working really hard all week in practice, “said Fetter. “We don’t a let down like we had against Robert Morris. We’ll get the girls going and get them focused for this last series.”

Wayne State (19-8-3, 7-2-1 CHA) and Mercyhurst are tied on top of the CHA with 15 points each with just two regular games remaining for both teams. WSU will host Niagara back at City Sports next weekend. MC will play a home and home with Robert Morris.