Eight inches of snow may have kept the crowd at home but it didn’t keep No. 7 Mercyhurst’s offense from showing up. The Lakers peppered 49 shots at Boston College goaltender Lisa Davis in a convincing 4-1 win at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. 167 fans braved the snow and cold to attend the early matinee.
Mercyhurst first dented the scoreboard at 5:22 at the second period when Teresa Marchase skated in all alone off of a turnover at the blue line. Up until then Davis was playing incredible between the pipes. Twice in the first period she stopped two Samantha Shirley breakaways and made other big stops in shutting the Lakers down for the period. The Lakers held a huge 19-4 advantage in the shots department.
Possibly the turning point in the game came shortly after Mercyhurst had taken the 1-0 lead, when Boston College went on a 5-on-3 power play for almost 1:30 and managed only one soft shot. Soon after the Lakers scored two quick goals to put Boston College in a big hole. Sophomore Julia Colizza was instrumental in that kill.
“It was very big killing off that power play,” she said. “Boston College has a good power play and if they were to score that would have changed the whole game. They would have had the momentum and built on it.”
Mercyhurst coach Mike Sisti praised the play of his team, particularly Colizza’s effort on the penalty kill.
“I think it was the turning point in the game,” he said. “Julia Colizza did an awesome job for us 5-on-3 … blocking shots. (Colizza) and the D that were out there with her bent but didn’t break. They put their body on the line for us.”
Laker defenseman Dani Jo Lansing took over the offense for the rest of the second period. She scored the eventual game winner when she rifled a slapshot from the point that deflected off an Eagle player into the back of the net. Three minutes later she rifled another shot from the same spot that Samantha Shirley deflected past a bewildered Davis. The Lakers once again dominated the shots on goal category with a 16-2 advantage.
The Lakers went into cruise control in the third period and played all four lines regularly. Boston College leading point scorer Deborah Spillane scored a power play goal off a feed from the corner to cut the lead to 3-1, but Laker assistant captain Lindsay Dellow picked the perfect time to score her first goal of the year when she scored on a pretty wrap-around with only 4:43 left in the game.
The Eagles only managed 13 shots on goal, many of which were easily handled by Laker goalie Laura Hosier, but they played much better in the third period. BC will look to build on that momentum in tomorrow’s rematch.
“This was a learning experience for our girls today,” said BC coach Tom Mutch. “I think this may have been the best team we played all year. They forced us out of our comfort zone and maybe we aren’t good enough to play out of that zone. I am hoping this will force us to play a little quicker tomorrow. I think we competed but not with the urgency of Mercyhurst. They pushed us and we weren’t ready to be pushed like that.”
Boston College will have every opportunity tomorrow afternoon to push back but the Lakers know the Eagles aren’t going to just fold. Sisti and the Lakers are expecting a better effort from Boston College tomorrow afternoon.
