Feb. 26, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Junior forward Laura Bowman (Minnetonka, Minn.) netted a goal and an assist in a 2-0 victory for the Penn State women's hockey team over RIT in the College Hockey America (CHA) First Round Friday night inside the Pegula Ice Arena.
"A well-balanced effort I felt from our hockey team tonight. I think the thing that I am most pleased with was our preparation and our outstanding start that we got off to today that was punctuated by Laura Bowman's goal at the end of the first period," head coach Josh Brandwene said. "One of the things we have been focusing on is getting off to better starts and the team responded really well to that. I am very pleased and thought it was an overall well-balanced effort."
Senior goalie Celine Whitlinger (Garden Grove, Calif.) tallied a 20-save performance for her fourth shutout of the season for the Blue and White keeping the RIT (8-26-1) offense off the scoreboard. Whitlinger made a game-high 11 saves during the third period.
The Nittany Lion (11-18-6) top line put Penn State on the board during the closing seconds of the first period on Bowman's team-leading 15th goal of the season. The top line of Bowman, Hannah Bramm (Tampa, Fla.) and Amy Petersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) combined for four of the six Nittany Lion points on the night.
After Kelly Seward (Williamsville, N.Y.) picked up the loose puck near the left faceoff dot in her zone, she played the puck to Bella Sutton (Shoreview, Minn.), on the right faceoff dot, who passed the puck to Bowman in front of the Nittany Lion blueline. Bowman moved the puck into the neutral zone and tallied a cross-ice pass to Petersen. With the two-on-one advantage, Petersen found Bowman all alone in front of the RIT net and Bowman beat freshman netminder Jenna de Jonge for her 15th strike of the season with 30.5 seconds remaining in the opening stanza. Petersen's assist on the Bowman goal was the 10th time this season Petersen recorded an assist on a Bowman goal.
The Nittany Lions added to their lead six minutes into the second frame on a Bramm tally with an assist from Bowman and Seward. De Jonge was unable to corral the loose puck in the RIT crease and Bramm lit the lamp for the ninth time this season.
Penn State went into the third period leading 2-0 on the scoreboard and also outshot RIT by a tally of 14-9.
With 1:58 left in regulation, RIT pulled de Jonge in favor for the extra skater and due to a Nittany Lion penalty at 18:32, RIT played with a 6-on-4 advantage. The Nittany Lions were able to withstand the RIT pressure and they secured a 2-0 win in the CHA First Round opener.
Each squad posted 20 shots on the night with de Jonge making 18 saves for RIT.
Neither team committed a penalty during the first two periods before the two teams combined for three penalties during the final 20 minutes of play. RIT went 0-for-2 on the power play, while Penn State went 0-for-1.
Penn State looks to close out RIT tomorrow in game two of the CHA First Round. The two teams will meet again at 2 p.m. inside the Pegula Ice Arena. Tickets for fans are $5, while Penn State students can enter for free with a valid Penn State ID.
NOTES: Amy Petersen has netted 14 points in the past 14 games...Petersen is one point from tying a career-high 26 points...Laura Bowman tallied her 41st career goal, which ties Shannon Yoxheimer for the program lead...Bowman set the program record of 16 goals in a season last season...Celine Whitlinger has recorded a program-best four shutouts this season...Penn State improves to 7-2 in the past nine games over RIT since the start of the 2014-15 season...Petersen's 18 assists this season is a program-best...Bella Sutton has posted four assists over the past three games.