Oct. 6, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's hockey team (0-2-0) continues its season-opening road trip against the Union Dutchwomen (0-3-0) in Schenectady, N.Y. The Nittany Lions and Dutchwomen take to the ice Friday, Oct. 7, at 6 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 8, at 3 p.m. inside the Frank L. Messa Rink.
FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can follow along with live audio, stats and video courtesy of Unionathletics.com. Audio and stats are free, but fans will have to purchase a single-event pass or an all-access pass to watch the video stream.
SCOUTING THE DUTCHWOMEN
The Union Dutchwomen enter the series against the Nittany Lions with an overall record of 0-3-0 on the year. The Dutchwomen opened the year with a pair of losses against UConn (5-1 & 2-1) on Sept. 30-Oct. 1. Union is coming off a 5-1 defeat against Vermont on Tuesday, Oct. 4.
Caitlyn McLaren (2g) and Haley Shugart (2a) have paced the Union offense in 2016, while four other Dutchwomen have tallied at least one point over the first three games of the year. McLaren is currently tied for the NCAA lead with two power play goals.
Kate Spooner and Celine Tessier have split time in net for the Dutchwomen in 2016 with Spooner starting two games.
On the year, Spooner has played 117:43 minutes, allowed six goals, recorded a goals against average of 3.06, made 64 saves, and tallied a save percentage of .914.
LAST TIME OUT AGAINST UNION
The Nittany Lions swept the Union Dutchwomen last season inside the Pegula Ice Arena by scores of 3-0 and 3-0, Oct. 17-18.
In the series, Laura Bowman scored a goal in each game, Amy Petersen and Victoria Samuelsson each recorded three assists and Kelsey Crow tallied her first career goal in the series finale.
LAST TIME OUT: CLARKSON
The Penn State women's hockey team fell in its first-ever series against the No. 5 Clarkson Golden Knights in Potsdam, N.Y. (Sept. 30-Oct. 1) The Golden Knights defeated Penn State, 4-2 and 2-1, in the season-opening series for both teams.
In the season-opener, Clarkson jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Kelsey Crow and Laura Bowman each scored to cut the Golden Knight lead in half. In the series finale, freshman Brooke Madsen recorded her first career goal as a Nittany Lion.
On the weekend, Hannah Ehresmann made 73 saves for the Blue and White. Ehresmann recorded 39 saves in game one and posted 34 saves in game two.
PRESEASON POLL
The Penn State women's hockey team was selected fourth in the College Hockey America (CHA) Preseason Coaches' Poll, as announced by the conference office Sept. 19.
DYNAMIC DUO
Nittany Lion linemates Laura Bowman and Amy Petersen return to the Blue and White for their senior season in 2016-17. During their junior seasons, Bowman tallied 25 points (17g, 8a) and Petersen recorded a career-best 29 points (8g, 21a).
Last season, Petersen recorded an assist on 12 Bowman goals. Petersen closed out her junior year with 18 points over the final 16 games and Bowman ended the year with four-straight games with a goal.
2016-17 CAPTAINS
Laura Bowman was named the captain of the 2016-17 Nittany Lions, while Kelsey Crow and Amy Petersen were named alternate captains.
WELCOME BACK
The Nittany Lions return 13 members from the 2015-16 campaign. Last year, Penn State finished third in the CHA regular season standings, its best finish in program history.
The Nittany Lions return four of their top six scorers from last season in Amy Petersen (29 points), Laura Bowman (25 points), Victoria Samuelsson (13 points) and Bella Sutton (12 points).
In net, junior Hannah Ehresmann returns to PSU after playing in 15 games last season.
2015-16 RECAP
The Nittany Lions finished the 2015-16 season with an overall record of 12-19-6 and a record of 6-8-6 in CHA play. Penn State finished third in CHA regular season standings, its best finish in program history.
Penn State tallied a record of 5-2-1 during the month of January last season.
In the first-ever meeting between the Nittany Lions and the Boston University Terriers, Penn State topped the No. 7/8 Terriers, 5-3, for its third win in program history over a ranked team.
In the all-time record books, Laura Bowman scored a single-season program-record 17 goals, she also tied a single-season program-best six power play goals scored and Amy Petersen recorded a single-season program-best 21 assists.
NEW FACES TO THE PROGRAM
The 2016-17 team features eight Nittany Lion freshmen. The Nittany Lion class of 2020 includes: Caileah Forrest, Brooke Madsen, Amanda McLeod, Katie McMillan, Daniela Paniccia, Kate Rydland, Olivia Villani and Abby Welch.
Along with the eight freshmen, two assistant coaches are slated to begin their first year on the bench for Penn State. Dean Jackson and Lisa Marshall joined the Nittany Lion coaching staff prior to the start of the 2016-17 season.
Jackson joined the Nittany Lions after serving as the head coach of the Elmira College women's hockey program for the past four seasons. Prior to Penn State, Marshall was an assistant coach for two seasons with the RIT Tigers.
THE 2016-17 SLATE
The Nittany Lions will play 34 games over the course of the 2016-17 regular season, which includes 16 home games inside the Pegula Ice Arena.
The 2016-17 schedule features the 2014 NCAA champion Clarkson Golden Knights (Sept. 30-Oct. 1), the second-ever series against Boston University (Oct. 14-15), a home series against Ohio State (Jan. 6-7) and the Nittany Lions close out the regular season at home against Syracuse (Feb. 24-25).
NEXT UP
Following the Union series, the Nittany Lions return home to the Pegula Ice Arena for their first home series of the 2016-17 season. Penn State hosts Boston University, Oct. 14-15, for the second-ever series between the two programs.