Feb. 16, 2013
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - A barrage of second-period shots from RIT led to a comfortable three-goal margin as the Tigers defeated Penn State women's hockey, 4-0, on Saturday night at Ritter Arena. Junior goaltender Nicole Paniccia (Oakville, Ont.) did all she could, stopping 41 shots as PSU was more than doubled in shot attempts, 45-20.
An even first period by the two teams led to a scoreless first frame, Paniccia making 11 saves, while her counterpart Laura Chamberlain had five saves to make.
Penn State (7-22-2, 1-15-2 CHA) would fall behind 1-0 on Kim Schlattman's third goal of the weekend just 2:08 into the second period. RIT (14-13-5, 7-6-5 CHA) doubled its total 10:40 later when Marissa Maugeri found the back of the net. The score read 3-0 after two periods following an Erin Zach tally just 69 seconds from the second-period horn. RIT out-shot Penn State 24-4.
In the third, the tide shifted to Penn State as the Nittany Lions out-shot the Tigers 11-9 and earning two power-play opportunities. Nevertheless, Chamberlain was up to the task and Kourtney Kunichika tallied an unassisted marker at 15:17 for the final 4-0 score line.
Paniccia posted her 11th game of 40 saves or more on Saturday night. In her last five starts, Paniccia has made at least 40 saves in each appearance. The junior transfer from UConn fell to 6-16-2 on the season.
Penn State was shut out for the first time since Jan. 29 against Princeton (3-0) at home and the first time the Tigers held PSU scoreless for an entire game this season. RIT went 3-0-1 against PSU in the regular season. The current standings have RIT in third place with 19 points, four points head of Robert Morris and Lindenwood, each of whom have 15.
Penn State travels to Robert Morris next weekend for a two-game series beginning Friday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. The regular season wraps up at RMU on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 3 p.m.
Penn State will be the sixth-seed for the CHA Tournament and will travel to RIT or Lindenwood for a three-game first-round series starting March 1. Mercyhurst clinched its 11th straight CHA title, while Syracuse has already sewn up the second seed. Mercyhurst will host the CHA Semifinals and Final on March 8-9.
--NITTANY LIONS--