Oct. 24, 2015
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's hockey team dropped its first-ever meeting against the UConn Huskies, 1-0, Saturday night at the Pegula Ice Arena.
"Well one of the unique things about sports, much like a lot of areas in life, is that sometimes you do an awful lot of things well and you don't get the result you were looking for," head coach Josh Brandwene said. "For a group of competitive people that can be very frustrating, but it's also an opportunity for growth so we are looking forward to getting back at it tomorrow if you can imagine."
The Nittany Lions fall to 3-4-0 on the year, while the Huskies improve to 2-1-2.
Penn State outshot UConn 28-14 during the game, but it was Leah Lum's goal in the second period that proved to be the difference for UConn.
With less than five minutes left in the opening frame, the Nittany Lion power play went to work after UConn's Thresea Knutson was called for body checking. Penn State tallied two shot attempts on the power play, but was unable to find the back of the net.
In the second period, UConn netted the go-ahead goal with under three minutes to play. With the man-advantage, off the faceoff, Leah Buress passed the puck to Brittany Berisoff who in turn found Lum open near the blueline. Lum then fired home her first goal of the season with 2:45 remaining in the period.
The Nittany Lions found themselves on the attack in the final period as they outshot UConn, 10-5. Penn State took to the power play one more time early in the period, but despite three shot attempts, Penn State was unable to find the equalizer.
Offensively, the Nittany Lions were led by Laura Bowman (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Shannon Yoxheimer (Jackson, Mich.). Bowman led the team with eight shot attempts, while Yoxheimer tallied seven shot attempts.
In net, senior goalie Celine Whitlinger (Garden Grove, Calif.) made 13 saves for the Blue and White. Whitlinger is now six saves shy of setting the all-time Penn State saves record of 1,802.
The Nittany Lions and Huskies return to action tomorrow at the Pegula Ice Arena at 2 p.m. Tomorrow's game is a Family 4 Pack game and also a Penn State Faculty & Staff Appreciation game. Following tomorrow's game, Penn State is hosting a post-game skate with the team.