By Tom Balog/Wayne State Beat Writer
Things didn't go as planned for the Wayne State Warriors over the weekend as they were taken apart by the Mercyhurst Lakers in the regular season finale at the City Sports Center in Detroit.
A season-high (374) fans packed the rink on Friday for the third annual Doc Andrews Scholarship Night, but the Lakers held off a late Warrior rally to capture a 4-3 victory.
Snipers Melissa Boal and Patty Kazmaier finalist Meghan Agosta traded goals in the first period and the two teams ended the first 20 minutes tied at one.
The Lakers took charge in the second period on three unanswered goals by Geena Prough, Valerie Chouinard and Bailey Bram.
Boal cut the lead to 4-2 with a shorthanded marker that beat Hillary Pattenden at 16:05 for her team-high 29th goal of the season.
WSU put on the furious rush late in the contest and were rewarded with a Lindsay DiPietro 6-on-3 power-play goal at 18:19 of the third period, but that’s as close as they would get.
Delayne Brian finished with 33 saves for the Warriors and Pattenden stopped 13 for the Lakers.
WSU ended the night 1-for-10 on the power play and held MC to 1-for-7 with the extra skater.
Sunday, the Lakers stole a penalty-filled affair, 4-2, to sweep the four-game season series with the Warriors.
Wayne State was penalized 15 times and Mercyhurst 13 times in an understandably choppy game.
MC took advantage of the multiple whistles to jump out to a 3-0 lead on goals by Melissa LaCroix, Jesse Scanzano, and Bram.
Green and Gold freshman Jill Szandzik put the Warriors on the board with a power-play goal at 16:14 of the second period.
Bailey Lane thought she had her first collegiate goal just 27 seconds later, but a quick whistle by the referee erased the would-be goal.
Agosta added her second of the weekend near the midway point of the third to put the Lakers up 4-1.
Wayne State fought back again and scored another extra attacker, power-play goal, this time by Sam Poyton, at 19:03 to close the scoring.
Brian came up huge in the WSU net, stopping 36 shots. Pattenden turned away 17 for MC.
Wayne State’s ended up 2-for-11 with the man advantage and Mercyhurst finished 2-for-13.
Next up, the Warriors (20-8-2, 11-5-0 CHA) will held back to Erie, Pa., this weekend for the 2009 CHA championship at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.
The action will begin Thursday night with Niagara taking on Syracuse in the lone quarterfinal matchup. The winner will advance to face top-seeded Mercyhurst in a semifinal matchup at 3:00 p.m. on Friday.
Second seed Wayne State will seek some revenge as they take on the Robert Morris Colonials in the other semi at 7:00 p.m.
Saturday’s CHA championship game will face of at 5:00 p.m. and all the tournament games will be available on the B2 Network.
ICE CHIPS…
Prior to the game, the Warriors recognized their eight seniors (pictured above) - Emily Berzins, Boal, DiPietro, Amanda Hungle, Natalie Payne, Poyton, Becky Sonn and Tina Vanderhoeven - for their contributions to the WSU hockey program ... The class collected a combined 704 points in their WSU careers.
Photo by Matt Mackinder
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