Jan. 31, 2015
2 Syracuse (6-12-9, 4-4-5 CHA) |
Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) University Park, Pa. • Pegula Ice Arena • Attendance: 1,042 | 4 Penn State (14-10-4, 8-4-2 CHA) |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; Jan. 31, 2015 - The Penn State women's hockey team epitomized the adage of striking while the iron is hot, scoring a program-best three goals in 174 seconds to beat Syracuse, 4-2, in College Hockey America (CHA) action on Saturday.
Penn State (14-10-4, 8-4-2 CHA) maintains its second-place seat in the CHA standings following the win, and is now one point behind conference-leading Mercyhurst with 18 points.
Hannah Hoenshell (Plano, Texas), Laura Bowman (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Hannah Bramm (Tampa, Fla.) recorded a trio of markers between 6:31 and 9:25 of the second period to give the Nittany Lions a 3-0 lead midway through regulation. Emily Laurenzi's (Townsend, Del.) third goal in as many games was the Penn State's fourth of the game.
The first goal of the game came at 6:31 on the power play. Hoenshell dug the puck out from the nearside boards and skated the width of the ice to drop a pass to Remi Martin (Littleton, Colo.) at the blueline in front of the Nittany Lions' bench. Martin sent the puck diagonally to Caitlin Reilly (Chanhassen, Minn.), who fired off a quick pass beside her to Hoenshell. Hoenshell ripped in her fifth goal of the season for the 1-0 lead.
Fifty-five seconds later, Penn State put another puck in the back of the net. Bowman picked off a Syracuse player who had collected the rebound of Bowman's shot on goal, skated around the back of Jenn Gilligan's net and wristed in the 2-0 tally.
Exactly two minutes elapsed before the Nittany Lions got on the scoreboard again. The Orange (6-13-9, 4-5-5 CHA) was called for checking, putting Penn State on its third power play of the day. Reilly secured the puck behind Celine Whitlinger's (Garden Grove, Calif.) net and passed it up to Hoenshell. The junior fed a long pass from the Penn State blue line to Bramm, at the opposite end of the ice. In the high slot, she sent a slap shot over Gilligan's left shoulder, giving the Blue and White a 3-0 lead midway through the second stanza.
Syracuse would score a pair of goals at the tail end of the second and third periods to spoil Whitlinger's bid for a shutout and cut the score to 3-2.
But with 1:08 left in regulation and the net empty, Laurenzi, who before Jan. 24 had not scored this season, posted her third goal in as many games for the final 4-2 Nittany Lion victory.
In front of 1,042 fans in Pegula Ice Arena to be a part of Penn State's Skate for the Cure game, Whitlinger turned away 34 shots, improving her record to 10-5-1.
Penn State ventures to Lindenwood next weekend for a CHA series against the Lions. The teams play on Fri., Feb. 6 at 8 p.m. (ET) and Sat., Feb. 7 at 3 p.m. (ET).