The St. Lawrence University women's hockey team dropped Saturday's rematch against nationally-ranked No. 3 Mercyhurst at Appleton Arena by the score of 7-3. The Lakers were led by Meghan Agosta's five point night and Jesse Scanzano's hat trick, while the Saints, who upset the visitors on Friday, were led by sophomore Kelly Sabatine's two goals.

St. Lawrence finishes its 2010 portion of the season with a 9-8-2 record overall after the loss, while Mercyhurst rebounds to improve to 13-3-0.

"We had some good chances that did not go in tonight. Mercyhurst was able to convert on its power play chances and they did a nice job of killing ours," said St. Lawrence head coach Chris Wells. "All in all, it was a good weekend of hockey for us. We will have a nice break and be ready for league play after the New Year."

Mercyhurst scored the only goal of the first period after outshooting the home team 15-11. Vicki Bendus one-timed a pass from Bailey Bram that came from behind the net past St. Lawrence goaltender Maxie Weisz at 11:06 for a power play goal. The goal was Bendus' 11th of the season, which gave the Lakers a 1-0 cushion after one period.

Agosta got into the scoring only 2:45 of the second period, again on the power play, as she picked up her 17th goal of the year for a 2-0 Mercyhurst lead. Bendus got the play started this time with a picturesque pass through the slot to Agosta, who ripped a one-timer into the net. Bailey Bram also picked up a helper on the goal.

Sophomore Brooke Fernandez curbed the momentum in the Saints' favor later in the period while skating shorthanded, when the defenseman fired a slap shot from the blue line that beat Mercyhurst goalie Hillary Pattenden under the cross bar. The Bloomfield, CT native's fifth goal of the season cut the home team's deficit to one at 2-1 at 15:28 of the period.

A key moment in the game came in the final two minutes of the second period, as St. Lawrence killed off a long 5-on-3 advantage for the Lakers. However, Mercyhurst caught the Saints in transition, leading to a 2-on-1 try for Kelley Steadman and Scanzano. Steadman fed her teammate, who sniped a wrist shot past Weisz that hit the crossbar and came back into play. However, the nearside official ruled it a goal, and replay confirmed that the puck had hit the netting, giving Scanzano her seventh goal of the year at 18:22 and the Lakers a 3-1 lead at the end of two periods.

Mercyhurst would take control of the game midway through the first period with three straight goals to open up a 6-1 lead. Steadman scored her 12th of the year at 5:09 of the third for a 4-1 advantage, while Scanzano followed with her second of the game at 8:49 to push the edge to 5-1. Scanzano then completed the hat trick only 2:17 later when she took a pass from Melissa Lacroix and beat Weisz for her eighth goal of the year and a 6-1 lead. Agosta assisted on both of Scanzano's third period goals as well.

Sabatine would score consecutive goals at 11:27 and 18:35 to pull St. Lawrence back to within three at 6-3. Senior assistant captain Karell Emard and rookie Rylee Smith set up the team's second goal, while senior assistant captain Kirsten Roach and Fernandez added assists on the Saints' final goal.

Agosta, who closed with two goals and three assists in the game, capped the scoring at7-3 at 18:56 of the third period with an empty net goal scored from just outside center ice.

Mercyhurst, which used a 44-25 advantage en route to victory, also relied on it outstanding special teams. The Lakers were 2-of-6 on the power play, while holding St. Lawrence to a 1-for-8 mark in the game. Weisz closed with a game-high 34 saves in 50:44 of action before giving way to rookie Caitlyn Lahonen, who made three stops in 6:38. Pattenden closed with 22 saves to pick up the victory for Mercyhurst.

St. Lawrence will be in action for the first time in 2011 on Friday, January 7 when the team hosts ECAC Hockey foe Quinnipiac at Appleton Arena. Game time is set for 7:00pm.