Lakers hammer Wayne State

by Tom Balog / Wayne State Beat Writer

Mercyhurst’s dominance of Wayne State continued over the weekend as the #1 team in the country skated into the City Sports Center and swept the Warriors (3-5-2, 0-2-0 CHA) in rather convincing fashion.

Friday night the Lakers flexed their muscles and rolled to a 3-1 win on Skate for the Cure night.

Lindsey Park was brilliant in goal for the Warriors, but still couldn’t stop the Lakers from going up 3-0 on goals by Jesse Scanzano, Bailey Bram, and Vicki Bendus.

Sophomore blueliner Jill Szandzik roofed her first of the year at 18:21 of the third period to beat Lakers netminder Hillary Pattenden and spoil the shutout.

Park finished the night with 33 saves in the WSU net. Pattenden only needed to make 12 stops for MC.

Things didn’t get any better for the Warriors on Saturday afternoon as the Lakers cruised to a 7-2 win.

Scanzano kept her hot streak going against WSU, notching a hat trick and one assist to lead the Lakers to their ninth win in ten games this season.

Jess Jones and Kelley Stedman also scored a pair of goals each for MC.

Trailing 3-0, former Laker Lauren Ragen (pictured) got the Warriors on the board just 35-seconds into the second period with her second marker of the season.

"I got the puck out of the corner and was looking to pass it," said Ragen. "My linemates were screaming for me to shoot it and I did and it went in. I was so excited and actually tripped after that. I couldn't stop laughing."

Wayne State other bright spot occurred at 8:01 when Katrina Protopapas hammered in a power-play tally to make it a 4-2 game. Protopapas’s goal was her sixth power-play marker of the season which leads the nation.

Park started in net again for the Warriors, but wasn’t as sharp as Friday night. Park made 8 saves on 11 shots and was relieved at the 15:02 mark of the first period.

Delayne Brian finished out the game and stopped 14 of 18 shots.

Pattenden, playing in her tenth straight game for MC, turned away 23 of 25 shots.

Wayne State will return to action next Friday night in Madison, Wisconsin as they begin a two-game set with the currently sixth-ranked Wisconsin Badgers.

Photo courtesy of WSU Athletics