Oct. 12, 2013
HAMDEN, Conn. - The terrific goaltending of sophomore Celine Whitlinger (Garden Grove, Calif.) couldn't withstand Quinnipiac's onslaught as the Bobcats earned a 4-0 victory on Saturday afternoon at TD Sports Center. Whitlinger stopped 55 QU shots, her second highest single-game total.
Whitlinger posted her fourth game with 50 or more saves and was just four saves shy of her career-high of 59, which came in a 5-2 loss to nationally ranked Mercyhurst on Feb. 1, 2013.
Whitlinger was the game's star early on by saving all 22 Bobcat attempts. One flurry of activity came 11 minutes into the game when the Bobcats were stoned on three straight attempts on net. Quinnipiac out-shot Penn State 22-3 in the opening 20 minutes.
Quinnipiac finally broke through five minutes into the second period when Nicole Brown made it 1-0 following 25 Whitlinger saves. The Bobcats put 24 on frame in the period and Whitlinger posted 44 stops.
In the third, Quinnipiac dialed in its accuracy putting three in the back of the net. Emma Woods scored at 1:43, Siann Darkangelo tallied a power-play marker at 6:10 and Nicole Connery made it 4-0 at 8:38.
For Penn State, Shannon Yoxheimer (Jackson, Mich.) and Jenna Welch (Austin, Texas) each put three shots on frame. Quinnipiac's Chelsea Laden picked up her second win of the weekend and her second shutout of the year by making 14 saves.
Penn State returns to Hockey Valley to open Pegula Ice Arena on Friday at 7 p.m. against Union. The Nittany Lions will face-off against the Dutchwomen again on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the first two games of an eight-game home stand at the $90 million state-of-the-art building.