Feb. 22, 2014
NEVILLE TOWNSHIP, Pa. - The Nittany Lion women's hockey team allowed a short-handed goal in the first period and couldn't recover in a 4-0 loss to No. 9 Robert Morris Saturday at 84 Lumber Arena. Penn State will take part in its second CHA Tournament with a best-of-three series at RIT starting Friday.
Penn State (4-27-3, 1-18-1 CHA) had a turnover on its first power play of the game when Rebecca Vint went the other way and potted her 23rd goal of the year with 7:56 remaining in the first period. The Colonials held a decisive 11-4 edge in shots with three of the Nittany Lion attempts coming on two power plays.
The Colonials doubled its lead with 6:55 left in the second period on a Brittany Howard goal, which was assisted by Kelsey Gunn and Katie Fergus. RMU ran the lead to 3-0 on Maeve Garvey's eighth goal of the year just 6:51 into the third period.
The Nittany Lions elected to pull goalie Nicole Paniccia (Oakville, Ont.) with 3:20 remaining in the game to try and cut into the three-goal deficit. Nevertheless, Ashley Vesci ran down a loose puck and put away an empty netter while getting slashed for the final score line with 2:27 remaining in the game. Paniccia finished the game with 29 saves. Her counterpart Jessica Dodds had 22 stops for the shutout.
Robert Morris held a 33-22 edge in shots for the game after Penn State's 10-8 leading of the third period. Neither team recorded a power-play goal as the Lions went 0-for-3 and the Colonials went 0-for-4. RMU won the faceoff battle, 29-20.