The Mercyhurst Women’s ice hockey team is looking strong in this early part of the 2019-20 season.

“I really like where our team is heading,” said junior forward Rachel Marmen. “I think we have a great group and a team that is willing to do whatever it takes to win and be successful.”

Coming off of a win against the University of Connecticut in the first-ever Women’s Icebreaker Tournament, the Lakers (7-2-1, 4-0-0) came home to the Ice Center for two more against Lindenwood University on Nov. 1-2.

In the first game, the Lakers kept Lindenwood off the board with a 3-0 victory. The first period saw one goal come from senior forward Emma Nuutinen, assisted by senior forward Sam Isbell and sophomore Alexane Rehuame. Nuutinen would tally again in the third period unassisted, followed by Isbell again (with assists from junior forward Megan Korzack and Nuutinen) to round out the Lakers’ scoring for the first game. Senior goalie Kennedy Blair accomplished a shutout for the Lakers, stopping a total of 13 shots on goal.

Game two saw an even more dominant Lakers’ score of seven goals in a 7-2 decision over Lindenwood. The Lakers managed three goals in the first period alone, before Lindenwood was finally able to strike seven seconds into the second period.That goal, however, was followed by four more Laker goals for the period.

Lindenwood was only able to manage their second goal of the series in the third period.Senior forward Michele Roballard had three goals, Nuutinen two, and Marmen and Isbell each scored one.“I was happy with our team, we worked hard and created a lot of offense this weekend which was really good,” Isbell said. “We had great contributions from everyone in the line up which is important for us moving forward, those two wins are very important for us in reaching our goal in winning the league. I thought this weekend we did well in creating offense and working together as a team. It was great to see.”

The Lakers will travel to Potsdam, New York, on Nov. 15-16 for their next opponent, Clarkson University. In their most recent meeting during the 2017-18 season, the Lakers lost 2-1 at Clarkson.

“I think we will have to shut down their top lines and not give them room to create chances,” Marmen said. “We have to play them physical because most teams do not like a physical game. We most importantly have to play our game and do the simple things right in order to win.”