Mercyhurst's women's hockey program is a perennial contender in Atlantic Hockey America. As one of the conference's top teams alongside Penn State, Mercyhurst has become a destination for top recruits, not only from North America, but globally.
"We feel we're visible worldwide," said Mercyhurst head coach Mike Sisti. "We've always been proud of our hockey program and the visibility it could give our wonderful university."
"It's a real neat group to coach and be around and for us it just helps us have more avenues to pluck wonderful people from...now we're just reaching more and more places which is exciting."
The program this season will feature players from eight nations including Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland, Germany, South Korea, Hungary, and Austria. While the program lost Swedish national team member Thea Johansson in the transfer portal to Minnesota-Duluth, they still have to senior national players from Hungary, Austria, and Finland.
That global search for talent is paying dividends for Mercyhurst.
Julia Schalin, their top returning scorer, is a current national team member with Finland. She's a player Sisti believes can take another step forward in her second season with the program, particularly after weathering the challenges of being a first year player in North America who is also competing internationally.
"I always feel that for the elite players that are playing for their countries they have to handle so much more with the grind of going overseas one, two, or even three times during our season," said Sisti. "How physically fit they've got to stay, the challenge to stay healthy with all that travel and stress. I think last year she did a wonderful job, just a great learning experience, another wonderful person in our program, but now that she's gone through it and with the type of player she is, I think the next step is to really just start growing into that leadership role."
Schalin recorded 14 goals and 32 points in 37 games last season and was named the Atlantic Hockey America Rookie of the Year. According to Sisti, Schalin's skill set makes her a hard player to handle.
"I think that's the next step for her, and obviously we're looking for her to have another amazing season," said Sisti. "I think she's just a really nifty player. I think the thing is you're not sure what she's going to do and that's what makes her so effective, she sees the ice really well, she moves the puck well for a highly skilled player, she distributes it well, but she can make plays and make moves that not a lot of players can."
Mercyhurst will begin their 2025-26 campaign hosting a pair of non-conference games September 19 and 20 against Minnesota-Duluth.