Dec. 7, 2013
ERIE, Pa. - The Penn State women's hockey team was unable to solve the 11-time CHA regular season champion Mercyhurst Lakers in an 8-0 loss Saturday afternoon at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.
The Lakers (12-5-2, 5-2-1 CHA) used six first-period goals to ease by the Nittany Lions (3-14-2, 1-9-0 CHA). Shelby Bram opened the account just 1:40 into the game for an early 1-0 lead. Mercyhurst would then add five goals in a span of 7:01 midway through the period that would stake an unsurmountable 6-0 lead. Emily Janiga, Kaleigh Chippy (2), Megan Widdon and Bram would score during that stretch as the Lakers owned a 25-4 margin in shots.
The Nittany Lions fought back in the second period, earning three power-play opportunities and firing off seven shots to MU's nine. Nevertheless, the two teams skated scoreless for the 20 minutes.
In the third frame, the Lakers concluded the scoring with a Jaclyn Arbour goal at 3:18 and a Maggie Rothgery tally at 17:48. Mercyhurst held a 53-19 margin in shots for the contest following a much more narrow 41-35 advantage in Friday's game.
Penn State goaltender Nicole Paniccia (Oakville, Ont.) made 45 saves on 53 Mercyhurst shots. Of the 19 Nittany Lion shots, seven came off the stick of Shannon Yoxheimer (Jackson, Mich.), while Amy Petersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) led the team in blocks with three.
The Nittany Lions fell to 0-6-0 all-time in the series against the perennial conference champions. Penn State will take nearly a month off for finals and winter break before returning to the ice Jan. 3-4, 2014 against the Ohio State Buckeyes. That series takes place at the OSU Rink in Columbus.