Warriors Continue Road Trip At Mercyhurst
Wayne State’s seven-game road trip continues this weekend (Feb. 1-2) with a pair of GLWHA contests at seventh-ranked Mercyhurst. The following weekend (Feb. 8-9) the Warriors visit the Connecticut Huskies.
WSU Versus Mercyhurst
Wayne State will try and snap a 10-game winless streak (0-10-0) against the Lakers. Mercyhurst won twice in Detroit (4-1, 3-0) on Nov. 10-11. The Warriors are 0-4-0 in four previous meetings in Erie.
Wayne State University Head Coach Tom O’Malley
Tom O’Malley, the only head coach in the three-year history of women’s hockey at Wayne State University, is in his 18th season as a collegiate head coach. Last year, O’Malley led the Warriors to five more victories than the inaugural season.
2001-02 Schedule
The Warriors schedule features four games (two at home, two away) against each of the other two members of Great Lakes Women’s Hockey Association plus 22 non-conference contests. The season concludes when Mercyhurst hosts the second GLWHA tournament on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 23-24. WSU suffered a 4-1 setback to Findlay in last year’s semifinal match.
Assistant Coaches
This year’s assistant coaches are Alain Frankiewicz and Catherine Hanson with Mike Risdale serving as a volunteer coach.
Scouting Mercyhurst
The Lakers had a 15-game unbeaten streak (14-0-1) end with a pair of losses (11-1, 5-2) at fourth-ranked Dartmouth on Jan. 25-26. Chrissy Yule leads the team in points (17) and assists (10). Sara McDonald and Lindsay Barch each have a team-best 10 goals. Barch has 16 points, while McDonald has 15 points. MC has outscored its opponents 73-45 through the first 26 games. Tiffany Ribble (11-5-1, 1.54, .929) has started 17 games with freshman Desirae Clark (7-2-0, 2.04, .879) starting the other nine contests.
Last Weekend
The Warriors lost twice at second-rated Northeastern University (5-1, 8-2) this past weekend. Melissa Wenzel (Canton, MI), who moved up front two weeks ago from the blueline, scored her first goal of the season on Saturday during a Wayne State power play. It was WSU’s first power-play goal since Dec. 8 at Maine and snapped a streak of 21 straight power-play chances without a goal. WSU netminder Tinna-Anne Thibideau (Barrie, ONT) made 33 saves including 19 in the second period. Marisa Hourihan had 23 saves for Northeastern while back-up Jennifer Buckley stopped six of seven over the final 8:18.
In Sunday’s 8-2 setback, the Warriors trailed 2-0 after the opening period as Brooke Whitney (16:34) and Brooke White (16:48) tallied 14 seconds apart. Whitney scored twice in the middle stanza (1:03 and 8:32) to complete her hat trick, while White had a goal at 6:14 giving the Huskies a 5-0 advantage before freshman Amie Hickerty (Calgary, ALB) netted her second of the season. Hickerty's lamp-lighter came at 16:30 and was assisted by Cheryl Anderson (N. St. Paul, MN). Whitney tallied her fourth of the contest at 19:15, the third goal allowed by the Warriors in the final minute of a
period at Northeastern. Northeastern scored twice in the third period (Nancy Collins at 0:59 and White at 5:57) to increase its lead to 8-1. Freshman Kelly Zamora (Oshawa, ONT) scored her team-best ninth goal of the campaign at 10:24 off assists from Wenzel and Anderson. Thibideau had 27 saves for Wayne State, while Northeastern’s Hourihan (22 saves) and Buckley (3 saves) combined to stop 25 of WSU's 27 shots.
Wenzel Gets In Scoring Column
Sophomore Melissa Wenzel had a goal on Saturday and an assist on Sunday in just her second weekend playing as a forward (she had been on the blueline for the first 20 games of the season without a point).
Tough Competition
Wayne State has played seven games (two versus Mercyhurst, one vs. Brown, two at St. Lawrence and two at Northeastern) this season against teams currently ranked in the top 10 of the USCHO.com Division I Women’s Poll. The Warriors still have two games against Mercyhurst (this weekend).
2001-02 Captain
This year’s captain is sophomore defenseman Kelly Meech (Coquitlam, British Columbia).
A complete copy of this week's game notes is also available in PDF.
