Feb. 8, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Despite outshooting their opponents by double-digits and dominating play in the third period, Penn State women's hockey couldn't knock off Lindenwood, falling 2-1.
Lindenwood got off to a good start scoring the game's first two goals. Alyssa West struck first sending a shot past Nicole Paniccia (Oakville, Ont.) for her sixth goal of the season tying their team-lead. Carrie Atkinson had the assist on the play.
Jenna Welch (Austin, Texas) went off to the box for interference midway through the first period giving Lindenwood the game's first power play. A little over a minute into the power play Caitlyn Post put Lindenwood up by two sending Chelsea Witwicke's pass past Paniccia. Katie Erickson also had an assist on the play.
Despite being outshot in the second period the Nittany Lions were able to climb back within a goal. Early into the second period Jill Holdcroft (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa.) fired a shot that Nicole Hensley brushed aside right onto the stick of Jenna Welch who sent it home to cut the deficit in half. Kendra Rasmussen (Sartell, Minnesota) was credited with the secondary assist for feeding Holdcroft the puck to get the play started.
The Nittany Lions earned their first two power plays following their goal when Alyssa West went off for cross-checking and Lyndsay Kirkham was called for holding. Neither penalty resulted in a goal and they went into the locker room trailing by one.
Penn State came out on fire in the third period sending 21 shots on frame against Lindenwood. Despite the onslaught Hensley was able to keep the net clean. The Nittany Lions found themselves down a player twice in the period but Lindenwood only managed one shot.
With just over two minutes remaining in the game Katie Nokelby went to the box for holding putting the Nittany Lions back up a player. With the game winding down Penn State pulled Paniccia from the net and sent out an extra attacker giving them a two-player advantage.
On the advantage the Nittany Lions dominated, firing shot after shot on net. Jordin Pardoski (Rochester Hills, Mich.) sent a pass towards the net looking for a Laura Bowman (Minnetonka, Minn.) one-time equalizer but it missed the net. After a couple blocked shots the Nittany Lions sent another shot towards traffic in front of the net but Hensley was able to secure it and cover it up for a whistle.
The Nittany Lions finished the game with a 46-29 edge in shots. Jeanette Bateman (Greeley, Colo.) led the Nittany Lions defensive effort blocking three shots to lead the team. Paniccia finished with 27 saves including one early in the game on a breakaway to keep things scoreless.