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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Senior Shannon Yoxheimer (Jackson, Mich.) scored twice and a pair of Nittany Lions tallied two assists each en route to a 3-0 victory over Lindenwood in a College Hockey America (CHA) contest Friday night inside the Pegula Ice Arena.
"Really nice night for our program and for our seniors and the opportunity to honor six of the twelve of them tonight and six more to go tomorrow," head coach Josh Brandwene said. "It was a real chance in the last 20 minutes here to reflect on their hard work and all they continue to accomplish in the program here and that comes off of just a really solid business-like effort for us tonight all the way around. I'm really proud of their performance on both ends of the puck."
With the win, the Nittany Lions picked up two points on Lindenwood in the CHA standings. Penn State improves to 10-16-5 (6-6-5 CHA), while Lindenwood falls to 7-20-4 (4-9-4 CHA).
For the third-straight game, the Minnetonka, Minnesota, connection of Amy Petersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Laura Bowman (Minnetonka, Minn.) teamed up for a Nittany Lion goal.
After Remi Martin (Littleton, Colo.) picked up the loose puck in front of the Nittany Lion goal, Martin played the puck to Petersen, who brought the puck into the Lindenwood zone. With the puck, Petersen worked her way around the LU zone, before passing the puck to Bowman, who passed the puck back to Petersen. Petersen then found Bowman again, this time in front of the LU goal, and Bowman connected on a one-timer for the 1-0 lead 7:20 into the first period.
Bowman's goal in the first period was her 13th of the season and it also marked the ninth time Petersen assisted on a Bowman goal in 2015-16. Also on the Bowman goal, Petersen picked up her team-leading 17th assist of the season and Martin tallied her fourth assist of her sophomore campaign.
With a little more than four minutes elapsed in the second period, Petersen was inches away from netting her sixth goal of the season. After collecting a rebound off a Bowman shot, Petersen fired a shot on goal, but it rattled off the pipe and out, keeping the 1-0 game intact.
Though they weren't able to tally a power play goal in the second period, the Nittany Lions used the man-advantage to work the puck around the Lindenwood zone before Yoxheimer netted her sixth goal of the season 9:18 into the second period.
With the Lindenwood penalty ending at 9:10, the Nittany Lions continued to apply pressure on the LU defense to take the 2-0 lead. The goal was set up after Martin fired a shot wide of the LU net and freshman Victoria Samuelsson (Leksand, Sweden) picked up the loose puck along the boards and found Yoxheimer in open ice. In one motion, Yoxheimer received the puck, turned to her side and fired a shot past Lindenwood goalie Nicole Hensley for the 2-0 strike.
The Nittany Lions added to their lead early in the third period as Yoxheimer netted her second goal of the game, and seventh of the season, again with an assist from Samuelsson.
Samuelsson started a 3-on-1 advantage for the Nittany Lions near the LU blue line. Instead of firing a shot on goal, Samuelsson dished the puck to Yoxheimer, who lit the lamp for second time on the night just 1:02 into the third frame.
Samuelsson's 12 assists this season are the second-most all-time by a Nittany Lion freshman (Yoxheimer - 17 - 2012-13) and her two assists Friday night marks her second multi-point game as a Nittany Lion (Union - 10/17/2015). Yoxheimer has now netted two goals in a game eight times as a Nittany Lion.
In net for the Blue and White, Celine Whitlinger (Garden Grove, Calif.) picked up her sixth career shutout behind a 23-save performance, while Hensley recorded 21 saves for Lindenwood in the loss.
On the power play, Penn State went 0-for-2, while Lindenwood went 0-for-3. In the game, Penn State outshot Lindenwood, 24-23.
The Nittany Lions close out the home portion of the 2015-16 season tomorrow at 2 p.m. against Lindenwood inside the Pegula Ice Arena.