Oct. 6, 2014 UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
By Tyler Feldman, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Sometimes it takes a loss to inspire a tenacious win.
After the Friday night loss to No. 1 Minnesota, the Nittany Lions adjusted accordingly to skate past St. Cloud State, 3-2, Saturday night.
"I loved the start we got off to against Minnesota, and then it became about learning a series of lessons that we went ahead and applied against St. Cloud State," said head coach Josh Brandwene. "I'm really proud of the adjustments we made."
After getting outshot as well as losing the faceoff battle, certain areas became the focus in preparation for Saturday's game.
"The biggest thing is attention to little detail and willingness to make the simple play when there is no other option," said Brandwene. "We did a fabulous job of that against St. Cloud State."
Junior Shannon Yoxheimer netted her fourth career two-goal game, including the game-winner at 6:27 in the third period. Such a performance is exactly the type of play Yoxheimer's head coach expects out of the team's captain.
"Oh, great effort from [Yoxheimer]," said Brandwene. "Fabulous leadership this weekend. Played incredibly well defensively both days. Worked really hard offensively and really made good on some great chances tonight. I'm certainly very proud of her."
Going into the weekend, it was known that junior goalie Celine Whitlinger would start between the pipes against Minnesota, and freshman Hannah Ehresmann versus St. Cloud State. Whitlinger stopped 40 shots, while Ehresmann terminated 29 shots.
Overall, Brandwene was very pleased with both of their performances.
"Celine kept us in it with some spectacular saves, especially when we were on the penalty kill," said Brandwene. "Hannah Ehresmann was fantastic against St. Cloud State. Very steady, very confident, really good effort, great job on her part all the way around."
With nine Nittany Lions' hailing from the Minnesota area, this past weekend was a homecoming of sorts for those players. With emotions at a higher level than normal for the Blue and White Minnesotan skaters, Brandwene was pleased with their play, especially on Saturday.
"Great effort on all of their parts [Saturday]," said Brandwene. "Amy [Petersen] scored a goal and had great jump all night. Laura Bowman had huge penalty killing especially during that 5-on-3 with a monster shot block. Sarah Nielsen had herself a great game. Caitlin Reilly was sharp, Paige [Jahnke] and Bella Sutton, as well. Really just a great night for the whole team, especially our Minnesotans."
Next up for Penn State is a home series against Quinnipiac this upcoming Saturday and Sunday. And, according to Brandwene, specific areas will be improved upon this week in practice.
"The biggest thing we still want to improve upon is making sure that our energy and effort level remains constant from period to period. Certainly the third period against St. Cloud State was a great effort for us both offensively and defensively, and that's something that we want to build off of."