Feb. 8, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State women's hockey had one of its best periods of play against Lindenwood on Friday afternoon, out-shooting the visiting Lions 14-12 and maintaining a 1-0 lead. Nevertheless, Lindenwood (4-23-2, 4-9-2 CHA) fought back and scored three unanswered goals in a 3-1 College Hockey America contest at Greenberg Ice Pavilion.
Penn State (7-20-1, 1-13-1 CHA) forward Emily Laurenzi (Townsend, Del.) won a puck on the left boards and chipped it to Birdie Shaw (Troy, Mich.). The freshman duo played give-and-go as Laurenzi flipped the puck over LU's Nicole Hensley for a 1-0 lead 14:40 into the contest. Of Laurenzi's three goals this year, two have come against Lindenwood. The assist was Shaw's fourth of the season for the Nittany Lions, who had quality scoring chances all period.
Penn State's downfall would be on the penalty kill as Lindenwood tied things up on an Alyssa West putback 12:15 into the second period. Chelsea Witwicke and Alison Wickenheiser had shots on goal that gave West her opportunity. LU dominated the second period with a 14-7 shot advantage, but was thwarted by Nicole Paniccia (Oakville, Ont.) who made 13 of her 42 saves in the period.
Lindenwood would take the lead 37 seconds into the third period, improving to 2-for-3 on the power play when Witwicke knocked home a wild scramble in front of the net. Paniccia stoned West and Allysson Arcibal and the puck squirted loose as Witwicked poked it home.
Penn State looked to tie the game on two power plays of its own, registering six shots in all, including good looks from Shannon Yoxheimer (Jackson, Mich.), Jill Holdcroft (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa.) and Laurenzi. Ultimately, Lindenwood held on and Caitlyn Post's empty netter made it 3-1 with 24 seconds remaining.
Penn State went 0-for-4 on the power play, while Lindenwood went 2-for-4, which was the difference in the game. LU goaltender Nicole Hensley posted 35 saves in the game as the final period saw 34 shots fired by the two teams with Lindenwood maintaining a 19-15 edge. For the game, LU out-shot Penn State 45-36.
PSU won the faceoff battle, 26-22, with Yoxheimer going 5-0, Laurenzi posting 6-4 and Holdcroft going 8-6.
Friday afternoon was Skate for the Cure, an initiative by the CHA to raise funds for local charities. Penn State donned pink shoelaces, tape and other accessories, while holding silent auctions that raised hundreds of dollars for the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Cancer Institute. PSU had multiple teams from across campus donate signed items for fans to bid on.
Penn State falls to 1-2-0 against Lindenwood in the season series as the weekend set concludes tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. Prior to tomorrow's game senior Kate Christoffersen (Trumbull, Conn.) will be honored by the Penn State community for her contributions to PSU hockey.
--NITTANY LIONS--