unior defenseman Megan Armstrong celebrated her birthday by scoring the game-winning goal in the St. Lawrence women's hockey team's 4-1 win over No. 9/10 Mercyhurst on Saturday afternoon at Appleton Arena. Her goal at the 9:21 mark of the third period snapped a 1-1 tie and helped the Saints complete the weekend sweep of the Lakers.

Armstrong finished with a goal and an assist, as did Kayla Raniwsky and Kailee Heidersbach. Jenna Marks added an empty net insurance tally with just under two minutes remaining to seal the win.

The Saints improved to 14-8-3 overall and extended their unbeaten streak to six games, while senior goaltender Carmen MacDonald picked up her 60th career victory with a 26-save afternoon.

Raniwsky opened the scoring at the 2:30 mark of the opening frame after Armstrong made a great play to keep the puck in the zone and dropped a pass to the Windsor, Ont. native in the slot. Raniwsky beat Lakers' netminder Amanda Makela high on the glove side for her tenth of the year.

The Saints held onto their one-goal lead until late in the second when Jennifer MacAskill redirected a pass from beneath the red line over the right shoulder of MacDonald to tie things at 1-1.

"It was exactly what we expected today," Head Coach Chris Wells said. "Mike [Sisti] and his team came out and took control of the game in the second and we were fortunate to be tied at the end of the period.

It was a back and forth game that could have gone either way," Wells said. "We were just able to make a few plays in the third to get on top."

The teams remained knotted at 1-1 until Armstrong buried her fourth of the season. The Edina, Minn. native got a shot away as she was falling to the ice to put the Saints in front for good, 2-1. Raniwsky and Heidersbach assisted on the play.

Three minutes later, it was Heidersbach who extended the lead to 3-1 after Jessica Hon created a turnover in the neutral zone and dished her the puck at the top of the right faceoff dot. Heidersbach fired a shot high the beat Makela on the glove side. The senior netminder finished with 28 saves for Mercyhurst.

"Our team did a great job getting ready for the final period where we scored some goals to get the win," Wells added. "Raniwsky really made some hard-nosed plays in the third to set the tone and then set up the game winner to Meg [Armstrong]."

Marks finished off the scoring at the 18:11 mark with a rocket from just inside the blue line into the empty net.

The series with the Lakers was the final non-conference matchup for the Saints this season. They'll return to Appleton Arena next weekend for an ECAC Hockey weekend against Brown and Yale. Puck drop against the Bears on Friday night is set for 7 p.m.