There was only been one NCAA Division I women’s hockey head coach to reach 500 career wins, until yesterday.
Mercyhurst coach Michael Sisti, now in his 22nd season with the Lakers, joined Wisconsin’s Mark Johnson as the only two coaches in women’s D-I to reach 500 wins.
Sisti is also only the 30th coach in college hockey history to reach the 500-win mark.
On Friday, the Lakers completed the two-game sweep of RIT Tigers, for wins No. 499 and 500. The Lakers won on Thursday 2-1 with Sara Boucher scoring her first two goals as a Laker, and the Lakers got Sisti win No. 500 winning 5-1 Friday against the Tigers.
“I am proud of our players,” Sisti said Friday in a news release. “A lot of things have changed in their lives. I am happy they were able to play, and see them win and smile, I’m glad we got to this point. We just wanted to build a great successful program. We clawed and scratched and looking back at the longevity of our success, I believe we did that.”
Sisti began his coaching career at Canisius after completing his playing career with the Griffins. After three years as an assistant coach with Canisius, Sisti came to Erie and joined the Mercyhurst men’s hockey coaching staff. While on the coaching staff the Mercyhurst men’s team, he helped lead them to 102 wins over his six seasons with the program.
In March 1999, Sisti was named the first head coach in Mercyhurst women’s program history.
