Oct. 20, 2012
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Penn State women's hockey exploded for a half-dozen goals and snapped a four-game skid on Saturday afternoon by defeating Sacred Heart, 6-1, at the Wonderland of Ice. Captain Taylor Gross (Colorado Springs, Colo.) tallied her first goal of the year as the Nittany Lions tallied three power-play goals in the first two periods. Gross had a two-point afternoon, adding an assist on the eventual game-winner by Shannon Yoxheimer (Jackson, Mich.) who also notched two points. PSU had six different goal scorers including five new scorers for the team.
Penn State dominated beginning to end, out-shooting the Pioneers 38-26 for the game as goaltender Nicole Paniccia (Oakville, Ont.) notched her second victory of the year behind 25 saves. The Nittany Lions also went 3-for-5 on the power play, while going 39-26 in face-offs. Emily Laurenzi (Townsend, Del.) went 18-9 and Kendra Rasmussen (Sartell, Minn.) went 12-3 for the Nittany Lions.
After a disappointing performance on Friday night, Penn State (2-4-0) stormed out of the gate when Gross netted her first Penn State goal just six minutes into the game. Yoxheimer and Madison Smiddy (Grand Rapids, Mich.) provided assists on the tally, Penn State's first power-play goal in school history.
Two minutes later, Yoxheimer scored her fourth goal of the season, another power-play tally on a feeder from Gross and Laurenzi for a 2-0 lead. Penn State out-shot the Pioneers 12-9 in the opening frame with the two-goal advantage.
Sacred Heart (1-3-0) tallied a power-play goal of its own early in the second period to cut the lead in half, but Penn State wasted little time in responding as Jeanette Bateman (Greeley, Colo.) scored a power-play goal, the first unassisted PSU goal of the season. After two periods, Penn State out-shot Sacred Heart 31-18.
Penn State's offense continued to roar in the third period as Jess Desorcie (Westford, Vt.) scored her first Nittany Lion goal five minutes into the third period off assists from assistant captains Jenna Welch (Austin, Texas) and Lindsay Reihl (Cheshire, Conn.). The assists were the first points for the assistant captain duo.
Hannah Hoenshell (Plano, Texas) found the net 26 seconds after the Desorcie marker in her Penn State debut for a 5-1 lead. Her goal was also unassisted. Hoenshell missed the first five games of the season nursing an ankle injury.
Penn State went on to score another goal off the stick of Jordin Pardoski (Rochester Hills, Mich.), her first career goal, for a 6-1 lead late in the third period. Pardoski's goal gave Penn State a record six goals, the most in the short history of varsity women's hockey. The previous high came in the inaugural opener when PSU beat Vermont, 5-3. Smiddy and Welch earned their second assists of the day on the Pardoski goal.
Sacred Heart's Alexius Schutt earned the start in net with 29 saves, but gave up five goals in 45:46 of game time. Mandy Montgomery made three saves and allowed one goal in the final 14:14 of the game. SHU travels to Happy Valley for a two-game series at Greenberg Ice Pavilion on Nov. 2-3.
Penn State has a quick turnaround when it hosts its second College Hockey America series of the year when fellow newcomer RIT comes to Greenberg. The Tigers and Nittany Lions will battle on Thursday at 7 p.m. and conclude the series on Friday at 7:30 p.m. All home games and parking during the 2012-13 season are free.
--NITTANY LIONS--