Feb. 19, 2016
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ERIE, Pa. -- The Mercyhurst women's hockey team scored two goals in the third period to hand Penn State a 3-1 loss in a College Hockey America (CHA) contest Friday night inside the Mercyhurst Ice Arena. Junior Amy Petersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) tallied the lone goal of the game for Penn State.
With the loss, Penn State falls to 10-18-5 (6-8-5 CHA), while Mercyhurst improves to 17-10-4 (14-3-2) on the year.
The Lakers struck first on Emily Janiga's 10th goal of the season at the 6:02 mark in the opening frame.
Penn State responded to the Mercyhurst goal early in the second period as Petersen netted her sixth goal of the season off an assist from sophomore defender Bella Sutton (Shoreview, Minn.) just 1:42 into the second stanza. On the goal, Petersen tallied her team-leading 23rd point of the season and recorded her 12th point over the past 12 games.
After a faceoff from the right faceoff dot inside the Laker zone, Petersen picked up the puck - near the left faceoff dot - moved across the zone and fired a shot from the right faceoff dot and over Mercyhurst goalie Sarah McDonnell for the Nittany Lion strike.
The pace of play picked up in the second period for both teams as the two squads combined for seven power play attempts. The Nittany Lions converted once on the Petersen goal at 1:42.
Mercyhurst took back the lead early in the third period on Brooke Hartwick's seventh goal of the season at 3:21 and the Lakers capped the game with an empty-net goal from Jaclyn Arbour with 1:10 remaining in the third period to give Mercyhurst the 3-1 tally.
Each team received five power play attempts, but Penn State was the only team to convert a power play goal on the night.
Senior netminder Celine Whitlinger (Garden Grove, Calif.) recorded 31 saves for the Blue and White, while McDonnell tallied 18 saves for Mercyhurst.
The 2015-16 regular season comes to a close tomorrow at 1 p.m. inside the Mercyhurst Ice Center. Earlier today, Lindenwood fell against Syracuse, which means Penn State will host either Lindenwood or RIT Feb. 26-28 in the CHA First Round.