Oct. 27, 2015
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By Jack Milewski, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" Every season is a process made up of multiple outcomes. The outcomes during this time are usually based on the effort put into the process. The two work hand in hand as driving factors for every team. While outcomes are usually what fans focus on, sometimes the process is a better indication of where a team is at in terms of quality of play.
Over the weekend, Penn State lost two tough games to the University of Connecticut Huskies. The first game was a fantastic showing by the team, as they dominated play for large portions of the night and peppered the UConn netminders with shots. However, the outcome at the end of the night did not favor the Nittany Lions. Still, head coach Josh Brandwene is all about growth and the process of improvement from his team.
"They had a great game, pucks just didn't fall into the back of the net," said Brandwene. "We focused on process and I thought our process was very good."
In sports, the best team does not always win the game and one could certainly look to the game Saturday as one of those cases.
Sunday proved to be a more lucrative game for the Nittany Lions, at least in terms of scoring. The team netted three goals, one by Amy Petersen, one by Jordan Pardoski and one by standout freshman Hannah England. The women's hockey team used one of their biggest assets, speed, to their advantage in the game and swarmed the UConn Huskies for a majority of the afternoon.
"I think there was very good consistency in our footwork today and I also think there was tremendous consistency in where we needed to poses the puck in the offensive zone, I'm very happy with the growth in both of those areas," said Brandwene.
The Nittany Lions had the lead for most of the game but ended up falling to the Huskies 4-3 in what was another hard fought game. Again, though the outcome may not dictate it, the process showed that the Nittany Lions played strong hockey for both games in the series, something that was not lost on Coach Brandwene.
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