Oct. 14, 2012
Box Score | Highlights | Brandwene Press Conference | Welch/Catanzariti Press Conference
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State women's hockey team was unable to overcome a strong Syracuse side on Sunday, falling 6-0 at Greenberg Ice Pavilion in a College Hockey America game. Nittany Lion forward Shannon Yoxheimer had 10 of Penn State's 20 shots in the game. Penn State returns to the ice on Friday for a two-game set at Sacred Heart.
Syracuse (2-2-0, 2-0-0 CHA) held the pace of play throughout the matchup, out-shooting Penn State (1-3-0, 0-2-0 CHA) 44-20. The Orange were paced by Laurie Kingsbury (two goals, one assist) and Margo Scharfe (two goals). SU goaltender Kallie Billadeau pitched a shutout with 20 saves.
Kingsbury opened the scoring with four minutes left in the first as she darted through traffic and slid the puck under Celine Whitlinger (Garden Grove, Calif.) for the unassisted tally. Whitlinger made 38 saves in her home debut after a 40 save effort at Vermont a week ago. Whitlinger registered 14 saves in the first, 13 in the second and 11 in the third period.
Syracuse doubled the lead 13 minutes into the second period on a power-play goal by Melissa Piacentini as the Orange went into the second intermission up 2-0. Syracuse would open up the game in the third by scoring four goals, three of which came in a six-minute span.
Syracuse was 2-for-5 on the power play, although Scharfe's second goal went in a second after the advantage expired in the third period. PSU was 0-for-2 on the power play. Syracuse held a 40-19 advantage on faceoffs with freshman Katie Zinn (Coquitlam, B.C.) going 7-3.
Penn State will travel to Sacred Heart for a 7 p.m. showdown with the Pioneers on Friday before wrapping up the two-game series on Saturday at 2 p.m. The next Penn State home game is Thursday, Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. against fellow CHA newcomer RIT.
--NITTANY LIONS--