ERIE, Pa. (October 8, 2021) -- After a pair of exhibition tilts, the Franklin Pierce University women's ice hockey team was in action for real on Friday night, as the Ravens opened the season with a non-conference tilt at Mercyhurst. Freshman Vanessa Upson, graduate student Kristy Pidgeon and freshman Marielle Parks all scored twice for the host Lakers, who dealt Franklin Pierce a 9-1 loss at Mercyhurst Ice Center. Sophomore Brooke Remington (Scandia, Minn.) scored her first collegiate goal in defeat for the Ravens.

With the loss, Franklin Pierce opens its season at 0-1-0, while Mercyhurst improves to 4-2-0. The two teams will wrap up the two-game weekend series on Saturday, with a 2:05 p.m. opening faceoff at Mercyhurst Ice Center.

Mercyhurst posted a 10-3 advantage in shots in the first period, but only needed one to open the scoring, just 66 seconds into the proceedings. Junior Jordan Mortlock held the puck in at the right point and flipped a shot through traffic, which found the back of the net for her first goal of the season.

The Lakers completed the first-period daily double, scoring early and late, by adding a goal in the final minute of the stanza as well. Sophomore Chantal Ste-Croix had the finish on a rebound right at the top of the crease, for her first of the campaign. Sophomore Sara Boucher picked up the assist at 19:21.

Mercyhurst built the lead out to 4-0 with the first two goals of the second as well. First, Upson tracked down a loose puck just to the left of the Franklin Pierce goal and slipped a pass back to senior Emily Pinto for the finish on her second of the year at the right post, at 4:15. Later, on the power play at 6:07, Pidgeon cleaned up a rebound out front for her third of the season, after the initial shot on the play, by Mortlock from the middle of the blue line, was stopped.

The Ravens got on the board at 17:13 with their only goal of the contest. After leading a rush up the ice, Remington found herself with the puck on the right side and a 2-on-1 down low. She had a wide open Mikayla Kelley (Eagan, Minn.) crashing to the left post, and tried to feather a pass across the top of the crease to setup the freshman. Instead, Remington wound up with her first career goal, as the puck ricocheted home off the skate of Mortlock.

The Lakers reclaimed the four-goal lead prior to the second intermission, with a 4-on-4 goal at 18:58. A sharp pass through the neutral zone from graduate student K.K. Thiessen sprung Parks on a partial breakaway down the left wing. Parks snapped her third of the year home from the left circle.

Mercyhurst added a four-spot in the third to win going away, 9-1. Upson popped a pair in the period, as she struck from the hash mark of the right circle at 3:59, and later jammed one home at the right post at 14:12. In between, Pidgeon stuffed home a rebound out front at 12:52 for her second of the game. Parks capped the scoring with her second of the game as well, at 18:12, when she knocked home a power-play one-timer in the right circle, off a feed from junior Alexandria Weiss.

Senior Emme Ostrander (Westborough, Mass.) finished with 28 saves against 37 shots and suffered the loss (0-1-0) in the Franklin Pierce net. Junior Ena Nystrom (2-1-0) played the first 43:54 in the Mercyhurst crease and made seven saves against eight shots to pick up the win. Freshman Hanna Zuckow made her collegiate debut in relief and stopped all three shots she faced the rest of the way.