March 3, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 3 seed Penn State women's hockey team heads to the Harbor Center in Buffalo, N.Y., to take on second-seeded Syracuse in the College Hockey America (CHA) semifinal round Friday, March 4. Puck drop is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. or one hour after the conclusion of the first semifinal game between No. 1 Mercyhurst and No. 4 Robert Morris. Puck drop between the Lakers and the Colonials is scheduled for noon.
SCOUTING THE ORANGE (18-13-3, 14-4-2)
Syracuse enters the CHA semifinals as the No. 2 seed after posting a conference record of 14-4-2.
With the No. 2 seed, Syracuse did not play last weekend. The Orange last played on Feb. 19-20 and tallied a weekend sweep of Lindenwood at home by scores of 6-1 and 2-0.
Offensively, the Orange have four of the top-six point-getters in the conference. Sophomore Stephanie Grossi leads the Orange offense with 33 points on 12 goals and 21 assists.
In net, Jenn Gilligan has tallied a record of 15-12-3. On the year, Gilligan has played in 1741:06 minutes, recorded a goals against average of 2.03 and a save percentage of .899.
Penn State went 0-3-1 against Syracuse this season.
SCOUTING THE LAKERS (17-10-5, 14-3-3)
The Mercyhurst Lakers captured the 2015-16 regular season CHA conference title. The Lakers
ended the regular season with a six-game unbeaten streak, as they tied Penn State, 2-2, in the 2015-16 regular season finale.
Freshman Rachael Smith leads the Laker offense with 25 points (10g, 15a). Smith's 25 points is tied for ninth in the CHA.
Senior Emily Janiga leads the league with her three short-handed goals this season.
Freshman Sarah McDonnell has played in 1520:38 minutes, tallied a goals against average of 1.54 and recorded a save percentage of .925.
In 2015-16, Penn State went 0-2-2 against Mercyhurst.
SCOUTING THE COLONIALS (17-15-5, 7-9-4)
Robert Morris finished the CHA regular season as the No. 4 seed with a record of 7-9-4.
Fifth-seeded Lindenwood took fourth-seeded Robert Morris to a game three in the CHA First Round. Lindenwood won the opener, 4-3, and Robert Morris won game two, 3-1, and clinched the series with a 5-1 win in game three.
Sophomore Brittany Howard leads the CHA with 39 points (17g, 22a). Her 17 goals are second-best and her 22 assists lead the league.
Jessica Dodds has a record of 15-13-4 in net for RMU. On the year, she played in 1898:23 minutes, recorded a goals against average of 2.28 and posted a save percentage of .922.
Penn State tallied a record of 2-0-2 against RMU during the regular season.
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students with college ID/youth. Tickets on Friday provide admission to both semifinal games. Tickets can be purchased at the gate at the Harbor Center.
HOW WE GOT HERE
The Penn State women's hockey team captured the No. 3 seed in the CHA Tournament with a conference record of 6-8-6.
Penn State's No. 3 seed in the CHA Tournament is the best in program history as the Nittany Lions tallied a program-best 20 points last season, but were the four seed.
The Nittany Lions went 5-5-2 during their final 12 regular season games, including a mark of 4-3-1 inside the Pegula Ice Arena.
Eight of Penn State's final 10 home games during the regular season took place inside the Pegula Ice Arena.
During the final 12 regular season games, Amy Petersen netted a team-best 12 points on four goals and eight assists.
Laura Bowman and Shannon Yoxheimer each posted a team-best five goals during that span to help spark the Nittany Lion offense.
In net for the Nittany Lions, Hannah Ehresmann and Celine Whitlinger each played in six games and each allowed nine goals.
CHA RANKINGS
-Amy Petersen is tied for seventh in point scoring with 27 points (8g, 19a).
-Petersen's 19 assists are tied for fifth.
-Petersen has tallied eight points (2g, 6a) on the power play, which ranks tied for seventh.
-Laura Bowman is tied for 11th in point scoring with 24 points (16g, 8a).
-Bowman's 16 goals rank third-best.
-Bowman's six power play goals are second-best.
-Celine Whitlinger ranks first in goals against average (1.50).
-Whitlinger ranks first in save percentage (.947).
LAST SERIES RECAP
Penn State enters the CHA semifinal after sweeping RIT inside the Pegula Ice Arena by scores of 2-0 and 3-2.
The Nittany Lions took game one of series by a 2-0 margin behind a 20-save performance in net from senior netminder Celine Whitlinger. Her shutout performance on Feb. 26 was the fourth of her season and seventh of her career, both of which are program records.
In Friday's contest, Laura Bowman netted her 15th goal of 2015-16 and Hannah Bramm tallied her ninth goal of the season. Bowman, Petersen, Kelly Seward and Bella Sutton recorded assists in the game.
Despite a late rally from RIT during the third period in game two, the Nittany Lions were able to withstand a pair of goals to secure a 3-2 win and series sweep.
Bowman and Petersen continued their stellar play on Saturday with a goal and assist each. Shannon Yoxheimer also added her eighth goal of the season to help propel Penn State to a 3-2 victory.
In net for the Nittany Lions, Hannah Ehresmann tallied a 24-save performance to capture the win for the Blue and White.
CAPTURING RECORDS
Against RIT during the CHA First Round, Laura Bowman tallied a pair of goals to tie her own single-season record of 16 goals and she also tied Shannon Yoxheimer for the program lead with 42 career goals. Bowman also owns the program record of 11 power play goals.
MINNETONKA CONNECTION
Juniors Laura Bowman and Amy Petersen lead the team with 16 goals and 19 assists, respectively. Petersen has tallied an assist on 11 Bowman goals this season. Petersen has netted three goals this season on assists from Bowman.
IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Victoria Samuelsson ranks tied for eighth in the CHA in freshman scoring with 13 points (1g, 12a) and Hannah England ranks tied for 15th with seven points (2g, 5a).
16 IN 15 FOR 9
Heading into the game against Syracuse, junior Amy Petersen has netted 16 points (5g, 11a) over the past 15 games, which included six points over a four-game span and five points over a four-game span.
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.
Penn State also recorded its first back-to-back overtime wins in program history. Penn State topped RIT 3-2 in OT on Jan. 16 and bested Robert Morris 3-2 in overtime on Jan. 22.
The Nittany Lions are heading back to the CHA semifinals for the second-straight season, again to face Syracuse.
NCAA RANKINGS
Celine Whitlinger is second in save percentage (.947) and she ranks sixth in goals against average (1.50) in the NCAA this season.
SUTTON EXCELS ON THE POWER PLAY
Bella Sutton has netted two power play goals this season, which gives her seven in her career. The sophomore is tied for third all-time at Penn State in power play goals (Jill Holdcroft). Laura Bowman holds the program record with 11 power play goals.
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.
100 GAMES
Six 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 each skated in their 100th game against RIT on Jan. 29.
Kelly Seward is the 12th Nittany Lion to skate in 100 games. Seward, a junior, posted 100 games played on Feb. 6 against Syracuse.
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.
CHA HONORS
Four Nittany Lions have garnered weekly or monthly CHA honors this season.
Ehresmann was named the CHA Goalie of the Week after tallying 74 saves in the series against the No. 10 Princeton Tigers Dec. 11-12. Ehresmann made 38 saves in Friday's game and recorded 36 saves in the series finale.
Petersen was named the CHA Player of Week for the first time in her career after the Robert Morris series Jan. 22-23. In the series, Petersen tallied a team-leading four points on one goal and three assists. In Friday's 3-2 overtime win, Petersen dished out two assists and in Saturday's 2-2 tie, Petersen scored her fourth goal of the season and dished out her team-leading 13th assist of the 2015-16 season.
Samuelsson has been named the CHA Rookie of the Week twice this season. In the Union series, Samuelsson dished out two assists Saturday night and added one more in Sunday's game. Samuelsson was also named the CHA Rookie of the Week following the Robert Morris series Jan. 22-23. In the series, Samuelsson tallied her ninth assist of the season.
Whitlinger has been named the CHA Goalie of the Week three times 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. Whitlinger recorded her sixth career shutout in a 3-0 win over Lindenwood for her third weekly honor of the season.
For the third time as a Nittany Lion, Whitlinger was named the CHA Goalie of 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.
Whitlinger also was named the CHA Goalie of the Month for February. During the month of February, Whitlinger went 2-2-0 in between the pipes for the Nittany Lions. She played in four games, allowed five goals, posted a goals against average of 1.23, made 112 saves and tallied a save percentage of .957.
NEXT TIME OUT
The winner between Penn State and Syracuse will face the winner of Mercyhurst and Robert Morris in the CHA title game on March 5 at 3 p.m.