Mercyhurst Lakers women ' s ice hockey The Mercyhurst Lakers women ' s ice hockey team is the hockey team that represents the Mercyhurst College in Erie , Pennsylvania . The program started in 1999 and Michael Sisti has been the only coach in the history of the program . From 2000 to 2002 , the Lakers were part of the Great Lakes Women ' s Hockey Association . While in the Great Lakes Women ’ s Hockey Association , the Lakers qualified for the GLWHA twice ( in 2001 , and 2002 ) . The Lakers were regular season champions in 2000 - 01 and 2001 - 02 , and won the playoff championships in 2002 . Starting in the 2002 - 03 season , the Lakers joined the College Hockey America conference . Season by season results . " Note : GP = Games played , W = Wins , L = Losses , T = Ties " History . Following the 2005 - 06 season , Mercyhurst recruited the college ' s first Olympic gold medalist in Meghan Agosta ( from Hockey Canada ) . In addition , the Lakers recruited Katariina Soikkanen of the Finnish National team , as well as Angelica Lorsell and Johanna Malmstrom who played for the Swedish National Team . The Lakers also had four players on the roster who played on the Canadian Under - 22 Team . Mercyhurst had two CHA First Team selections in 2006 - 07 , one second team choice , the Player and Rookie of the Year , and four members of the All - Rookie Team . In addition , Agosta would be the first ever freshman to be a top three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award . Mercyhurst defeated host team Niagara 4 - 2 in the 2007 CHA semifinals . Afterwards , they defeated Wayne State 2 - 1 on overtime in the CHA championship match . Meghan Agosta was honoured as the tournament MVP and the club had three All - Tournament Team selections : senior forward Stephanie Jones , senior goaltender Laura Hosier , and junior defender Natalie Payne . Eight players ( freshmen or first - year transfers are not eligible ) were named to the conference All Academic Team . Senior captain Stephanie Jones was the CHA ' s student athlete of the year . Agosta was an AHCA First Team All - American and a three - time USCHO . com Offensive Player of the Week . In 2008 - 09 , the Lakers went 16 - 0 in conference play last season en route to their seventh - straight CHA Title . From 2002 to 2009 , the Lakers were 74 - 3 - 5 in the regular season against CHA competition and 14 - 0 in the postseason . During the 2009 - 10 season , the Lakers started the season with a record of 19 wins , 1 loss and 3 ties ( Conference Record , 6 - 0 - 1 ) . They were the top ranked team in the USA TODAY / USA Hockey Magazine poll for 14 consecutive weeks and were the unanimous choice with all 19 first - place votes eight times . Their only loss came in an October home split with Minnesota - Duluth . On March 13 , 2010 , Vicki Bendus scored the 50th career goal of her career in the win over the Boston University Terriers . She was the 8th Laker to have at least 50 goals in a career . For the first time , a Mercyhurst player won the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2010 . Vicki Bendus was given the honour . It marked the fourth - straight year a Laker has been a top - three finalist . For the season , Bendus helped the Lakers to a 30 - 3 - 3 record and their second consecutive appearance at the NCAA Women ’ s Frozen Four . She led the NCAA with 28 goals and 37 assists for 65 points . As the Lakers went 6 - 1 - 0 in October 2010 , freshman Christine Bestland scored four goals , including two in a 7 - 3 defeat of the Robert Morris Colonials . In addition , she had six as¬sists . In her first game as a Laker , she scored a goal . She registered points in five of the seven games played and finished the month with a plus / minus rating of + 13 . For her efforts , she was recognized as College Hockey America ’ s Rookie of the Month . On February 4 , 2011 , Meghan Agosta became the all - time leading scorer in NCAA women ' s hockey history with three goals and one assist in Mercyhurst College ' s 6 - 2 win over Wayne State in Erie , Pa . Meghan Agosta was featured in Sports Illustrated ' s Faces in the Crowd feature in the the February 21 , 2011 issue ( as recognition of becoming the all - time NCAA scorer ) . During the 2011 - 12 Mercyhurst season , the Lakers only carried 17 skaters , but Sisti guided the club to its 12th consecutive regular season title . In addition , the squad qualified for the NCAA tournament for the eighth consecutive season , an NCAA Division I women ' s hockey record . The Lakers finished 22 - 8 - 3 overall , and were defeated by top - seed Wisconsin , 3 - 1 , in the NCAA quarterfinals . Playoffs . The Lakers have made the NCAA playoffs from 2005 - 2012 . In 2005 , Mercyhurst lost at Harvard 5 - 4 in a triple - overtime match . In April 2005 , Michael Sisti was named Division I Women ' s Coach of the Year . The Lakers qualified for the second consecutive year in 2006 but suffered a 2 - 1 defeat to Wisconsin 2 - 1 in double overtime in Madison . The Lakers hosted its first - ever Division I NCAA playoff game on March 9 , 2007 . The Lakers lost in the Quarterfinals for the third straight year . The club lost to Minnesota Duluth 3 - 2 in overtime . In 2008 , Mercyhurst traveled to Duluth to face the Bulldogs in the opening round and bowed 5 - 4 . The Lakers had leads of 1 - 0 , 2 - 1 , and 3 - 2 in the third but couldn ' t hang on . UMD won the national championship a week later with a 4 - 0 win over Wisconsin . The Lakers have won or tied ( 2007 - 08 ) eight regular season conference championships , two in the Great Lakes Women ' s Hockey Association ( GLWHA ) and the last six as a member of College Hockey America ( CHA ) . He guided Mercyhurst to GLWHA and CHA playoff championships the last seven years and a Division I top ten ranking throughout most of the previous seven seasons . Players . CJ Ireland was one of the first players of the Lakers women ’ s hockey program that began in 1999 . She was team captain from 1999 - 2003 and played in every one of the Lakers ' 129 games . Her team ' s four - year win loss record was 86 - 38 - 5 . In her senior season , the Lakers were 25 - 8 - 1 . This was the Lakers ' first season in College Hockey America ( CHA ) . She scored 43 goals and set a record for most goals scored in one season by a Lakers player ( since broken ) . At season ’ s end , her accomplishments were featured in Sport ' s Illustrated ' s Faces in the Crowd section ( week of April 13 ) . Ireland graduated as the career leader in goals , assists , and points . In addition , was recognized as the 2003 Mercyhurst College Female Student Athlete of the Year .