Jan. 29, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Junior Amy Petersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) netted the fifth short-handed goal in Penn State women's hockey history to lead the Nittany Lions to a 1-0 win over RIT in a College Hockey America (CHA) contest Friday night inside the Pegula Ice Arena.
With the win, the Nittany Lions improve to 8-14-5 on the season and 4-4-5 in CHA play, while RIT is now 6-20-1 overall with a CHA record of 2-10-1.
"I think the theme today as you look back on that game, it was a really solid -- especially for the last 40 minutes -- puck-decision effort on our part," head coach Josh Brandwene said. "We made great decisions with the puck in all three zones, whether it was cycling on offense, good decisions with the puck at the point, great decisions coming out of our end. Really pleased with the business-like effort with the puck to do the right thing. When you do that, you get rewarded for it. Really pleased with the effort, especially over the last two periods."
The Nittany Lions and Tigers each exchanged nine shots in the opening period, but it was Petersen who lifted the Nittany Lions to a 1-0 lead on her fifth goal of the season with 2:17 left in the first period.
On the goal it was classmate Laura Bowman (Minnetonka, Minn.) netting her sixth assist of her junior year. Friday's goal marks the third time Petersen has scored on an assist from Bowman this season.
From the Nittany Lion end, Bowman skated down the left-side of the ice and found a wide-open Petersen in front of the RIT net and Petersen was able to find the back of the net for the second-straight game.
Petersen has scored in back-to-back contests for the second time this season and is currently riding a four-game point streak, which ties a career-high. Petersen has netted six points (2g, 4a) over the last four games, which is a career-best. Last season, Petersen netted five points (4g, 1a) over a four-game span.
Though they weren't able to add the lead in the final two periods, the Nittany Lions outshot RIT by a margin of 12-4 in the second period and 12-1 in the third period.
Looking for the game-tying goal late in the game, RIT pulled goalie Jetta Rackleff with 1:00 left on the clock. The Tigers were unable to even up the game with the extra attacker during the final 60 seconds of regulation.
Both teams went 0-for-4 on the power play, as they each recorded four penalties for eight minutes.
In net, Rackleff made 32 saves for the Tigers, while Celine Whitlinger (Garden Grove, Calif.) notched her second shutout of the season with 14 saves. Her shutout performance Friday night is the fifth of her Nittany Lion career.
Along with her first-career short-handed strike, Petersen also skated in 100th game Friday night. Also joining Petersen in her in the milestone Friday night was classmates Bowman and Sarah Nielsen (Edina, Minn.).
Both teams are back in action tomorrow afternoon inside the Pegula Ice Arena for a 2 p.m. puck drop.