Feb. 9, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State women's hockey dominated the third period and overtime Sunday afternoon at Pegula Ice Arena, but came out on the wrong side of a 4-3 defeat to CHA rival Lindenwood.
Penn State (4-23-3, 1-14-1 CHA) fought back from two goals down only to score a pair of goals in the final 10:15 of regulation to force overtime. Despite registering the first eight shots of overtime, a turnover at the blue line by Penn State led to a 2-on-1 break for Lindenwood (5-21-5, 5-10-1 CHA) as Kendra Broad scored the game-winner with 1:40 left in the extra session to give LU the sweep.
Penn State's Laura Bowman (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Hannah Hoenshell (Plano, Texas) each tallied two points on the afternoon, while Lindenwood's Lyndsay Kirkham notched a game-high three points.
Down 3-1 entering the third period, Penn State would halve the deficit on Bowman's ninth goal of the season as Hoenshell's fed her line mate from behind the goal and Bowman put it away with 10:15 left.
The Nittany Lions would throw 15 shots on net in the third period and it would take until the 15th shot and an extra attacker for Penn State to even the score. PSU won a faceoff in Lindenwood's territory as Taylor Gross (Colorado Springs, Colo.) found Kelly Seward (Williamsville, N.Y.) on the left point. Seward slid a pass to her right to Jordin Pardoski (Rochester Hills, Mich.) and Pardoski blasted a shot that deflected off an LU defender and into the net to tie the game at three apiece with 1:36 remaining.
In overtime, Penn State peppered Nicole Hensley's net and Hensley turned aside all eight PSU shots including two great opportunities by Amy Petersen (Minnetonka Minn.) and Hoenshell. Depsite the 47-25 edge in shots, it was Lindenwood that skated away with a two-game sweep, the first in the series between the two teams.
Penn State started off well by controlling possession and tilting the ice toward Lindenwood for much of the opening 15 minutes. The Nittany Lions eventually broke through when Hoenshell fed a waiting Petersen in front of the net as the freshman made no mistake and beat Hensley to her glove side for the 1-0 lead at 11:52.
Lindenwood would take advantage of a PSU penalty as Katie Erickson's third shot of the power play found the back of the net 15:28 into the period to tie the game. A defensive breakdown led to a breakaway goal for Jocelyn Slattery with just 51 seconds remaining to give LU a 2-1 lead entering the break. Penn State held a 12-9 edge in shots during the opening 20 minutes.
The second period featured one goal for Lindenwood, which game on its second power play of the game 1:22 into the frame. Kirkham bagged her fifth of the year on the play to give LU a 3-1 lead.
While Lindenwood went 2-for-2 on the power play, Penn State went 0-for-5 on the extra-player advantage, failing to register a power-play goal for the 14th straight game. The Nittany Lions dominated the faceoff dot, 41-22, as Bowman went 15-6 and Emily Laurenzi (Townsend, Del.) went 9-5.
Goaltender Nicole Paniccia (Oakville, Ont.) finished the game with 21 saves with seven stops in each the first, second and third periods.
Penn State ends its six-game home stand with a two-game series against Mercyhurst Saturday (8 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.). Sunday is Senior Day as the careers of Jenna Welch (Austin, Texas), Lindsay Reihl (Cheshire, Conn.), Tess Weaver (Windber, Pa.), Paniccia, Gross.