TROY, N.Y. ­­– The Mercyhurst University women's hockey team scored three goals in the second period in defeating Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), 4-1, on Friday afternoon at the Houston Field House. With the win, the Lakers improve to 4-8-1, while the Engineers drop to 4-10-1.

RPI opened the scoring at 9:37 of the first period, when sophomore Jaimie Grigsby (Whitby, ON/Whitby Wolves) stole the puck in the neutral zone and skated in 1-on-1 with Mercyhurst junior netminder Jessica Convery (Commerce Township, MI/Honeybaked). Grigsby ripped a shot, just under the crossbar, from between the circles for her second goal of the season.

The visitors answered at 11:08 of the period, thanks to Taylor Accursi's (Ancaster, ON/Burlington Barracudas) team-leading sixth tally of the year. On the power play, the Lakers worked the puck to left circle for junior Brooke Hartwick (London, ON/Brampton Jr. Canadettes), who fired towards goal. Accursi redirected the shot past RPI sophomore goaltender Kira Bombay (Orleans, ON/Nepean Wildcats).

Mercyhurst recorded the final seven shots of the first period for a 13-6 advantage after one.

Freshman Nichole Guagliardo (Hoffman Estates, IL/Barrington High School) gave Mercyhurst the lead for good at 5:50 of the second, tipping home a point shot from sophomore Molly Blasen (Okemos, MI/Honeybaked) for her first collegiate goal. A second assist was credited to sophomore blueliner Samantha Fieseler (Kelowna, BC/Pursuit Of Excellence).

The Lakers made it 3-1 less than two minutes later, as freshman Sam Isabell (Thunder Bay, ON/Whitby Jr. Wolves) netted her second goal of the year from Hartwick. Junior Jennifer MacAskill (Auld's Cove, NS/Oakville Jr. Hornets) capped the scoring at 14:41 for a 4-1 advantage.

Bombay (0-2-0) finished with a career-high 31 saves, while Convery (3-3-1) had 16 stops at the other end of the ice. RPI was 0 for 3 on the power play, while the Lakers went 1 for 6.

Both teams are back in action tomorrow afternoon for game two of the series (3pm).