Dec. 3, 2015
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's hockey team heads to Syracuse, N.Y., for a two-game College Hockey America series against Syracuse, Dec. 4-5. This weekend marks the final CHA series for the 2015 calendar year for the Nittany Lions. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. and 3 p.m.
FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can follow along with the Nittany Lions at Syracuse with live stats via GoPSUsports.com and fans can purchase a video feed from Eversport.Tv.
LAST SERIES RECAP
The Nittany Lions are coming off a pair of non-conference losses against St. Lawrence prior to Thanksgiving day break.
In the opener, the St. Lawrence Saints tallied a late goal with 1:52 left in regulation to secure a 3-2 victory over the Penn State women's hockey team on Nov. 23. Victoria Samuelsson netted her first career goal for the Blue and White in the loss.
Hannah Ehresmann (Minnetonka, Minn.) stopped 24 shots in the game; thirteen of Ehresmann's saves came in the final period of play.
Hannah Bramm posted a goal in each game in the early week series. In the first game, ooking for the game-tying goal midway through the third period, Bramm tied the game at two with her second goal of the season with 9:31 on the clock.
In the series finale, the St. Lawrence Saints tallied a pair of goals in the third period to a secure a 4-2 victory over Penn State on Nov. 24. Celine Whitlinger (Garden Grove, Calif.) made 38 saves in net for the Nittany Lions.
Bramm netted her second goal of the series, and her third of the season, to put the Nittany Lions up 1-0 with 11:48 left in the first period of play.
SCOUTING THE ORANGE (7-9-1, 4-1-1)
Heading into this series, Syracuse sits two points behind CHA-leader Mercyhurst (11 points).
The Orange is coming off a 5-2 win over No. 9 North Dakota in non-conference play on No. 28.
The Syracuse offense features six student-athletes with five or more goals this season.
Nicole Ferrara leads the team with eight goals followed by Stephanie Grossi with six goals and four with five goals.
Grossi does lead the team in points (21), as she has 15 assists to go along with her six goals. Her 21 points and 15 assists currently lead the CHA this season.
The Orange has scored 46 goals this season which currently ranks second in the CHA only to Robert Morris (49).
Four of the top-seven point-getters in the CHA are members of the Syracuse women's hockey team.
In net, Jenn Gilligan has played 881:21 out of 1025:59 minutes this season. She has made 281 saves while allowing 36 goals. Her 281 saves this season rank fourth in the CHA.
The majority of the Syracuse offense comes in the final two periods of play. Syracuse has scored 18 goals in the third period, 16 goals in the second period and 11 in the opening period.
IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Victoria Samuelsson is tied for 10th in the CHA in freshman scoring with seven points (1g, 6a).
Also, Hannah England is tied for 14th in CHA freshman scoring with three points (1g, 2a).
NOT SO FAST, MY FRIEND
The Nittany Lions have only allowed seven goals in the first twenty minutes of play, which ranks first in the CHA.
PLAYING SMART
Penn State is currently averaging 6.4 penalty minutes per game, which ranks second in the CHA (Syracuse - 5.9).
WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER
Hannah Hoenshell is tied for the CHA lead in game-winning goals (three). In her career, Hoenshell has scored six game-winning goals, which ranks second all-time. Shannon Yoxheimer holds the Penn State record (nine).
DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE
Penn State has only allowed 36 goals on the year, which is the best mark in the CHA this season.
BACK-TO-BACK
For the first time in program history, the Nittany Lions tallied back-to-back shutouts against a Division I team. Penn State swept Union by a score of 3-0 in each game.
NCAA RANKINGS
Heading into this weekend, Celine Whitlinger is fifth in save percentage (.946) and she ranks eighth in goals against average (1.61).
SUTTON EXCELS ON THE POWER PLAY
Bella Sutton tallied her sixth career power play goal against No. 7/8 Boston University. The sophomore is tied for third all-time at Penn State in power play goals.
ALL-TIME SAVES RECORD
Celine Whitlinger captured the all-time Penn State women's hockey saves record Friday, Oct. 30, at Lindenwood. Nicole Paniccia held the previous Nittany Lion all-time saves record with 1,801.
NITTANY LION ATTACK
The Nittany Lions have tallied at least five goals in a game twice this season. The two five-goal outings are the 10th and 11th in program history.
100 GAMES
Two Nittany Lions have eclipsed the century mark in games played this season.
In the season-opener against Minnesota, Jill Holdcroft became the seventh Nittany Lion to skate in 100 career games and Micayla Catanzariti became the eighth Nittany Lion to post 100 games played on Oct. 31.
Laura Bowman, Sarah Nielsen and Amy Petersen are on track to become the next Nittany Lions to skate in 100 games. The trio of Minnesotans have played in 89 games each.
STARTING OUT FAST
On Oct. 9, 2015, against No. 7/8 BU, Laura Bowman scored 43 seconds into the game, which is three seconds shy of tying the program record for the fastest goal to start a game. The record, held by Bowman, was set on Oct. 26, 2013, against New Hampshire.
CHA HONORS
Celine Whitlinger has been named the CHA Goaltender of the Week twice in the 2015-16 season. Whitlinger tallied 41 saves against the top-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers for the first plaudit and made 65 saves in a weekend series against Robert Morris for the second award.
For her performance against the Union Dutchwomen, Victoria Samuelsson was named the CHA Rookie of the Week. In the series, Samuelsson dished out two assists Saturday night and added one more in Sunday's game.
For the third time as a Nittany Lion, Whitlinger was named the CHA Goaltender for the Month for October. In the month of October, Whitlinger made 158 saves, tallied a goals against average of 1.66 and posted a save percentage of .940.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State closes out the 2015 calendar year next weekend at Princeton (Dec. 11-12).