Nov. 4, 2016
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ERIE, Pa. - The Penn State women's hockey team fell to the Mercyhurst Lakers, 6-4, in College Hockey America (CHA) play Friday night inside the Mercyhurst Ice Center. Freshmen Katie McMillan (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Kate Rydland (Eden Prairie, Minn.) each scored their first career goal in the game.
Four Nittany Lions (3-6-2, 2-1-0 CHA) scored in the game as Laura Bowman (Minnetonka, Minn.), McMillan, Meike Meilleur (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) and Rydland each found the back of the net.
In net for the Nittany Lions, freshman goaltender Daniela Paniccia (Oakville, Ontario, Canada) recorded a 34-save performance. For the Lakers (2-6-1, 1-2-0 CHA), Jessica Convery tallied three saves before getting pulled in favor of Sarah McDonnell after allowing two goals in the first 5:03 of play. After taking over for Convery, McDonnell finished the game with 11 saves.
The Nittany Lion offense opened the game with three goals within the first 5:53 of play.
Bowman netted her team-leading 10th goal of the season at 2:48 to put the Nittany Lions up 1-0. Following the Bowman goal, the Nittany Lions added to their lead on goals from Rydland at 5:03 and Meilleur at 5:53. Rydland's goal at 5:03 was the first of her Nittany Lion career and Meilleur tallied her second-straight game with at least one goal.
The Mercyhurst offense responded with three goals of their own within a three-minute span to tie the game at three. For the Lakers, Megan Whiddon scored at 10:47, followed by Rachael Smith at 11:27 and Samantha Fieseler at 13:12.
McMillan put the Nittany Lions back in front on her first career goal with 5:00 left in the middle stanza. On the McMillan goal, Bowman and Amy Petersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) were credited with assists.
The Lakers then added a pair of goals from Taylor Accursi within the first 4:34 of play in the third period to take a 5-4 lead. Accursi tied the game at 3:22 and then put the Lakers up 5-4 at 4:34.
Mercyhurst closed out the game with an empty net goal at 19:42 from Brooke Hartwick to secure the 6-4 victory.
The Nittany Lions close out their six-game road trip Saturday, Nov. 5, against Mercyhurst inside the Mercyhurst Ice Center at 2 p.m.
NOTES: Mercyhurst leads the all-time series against Penn State, 13-2-2...Heading into Friday night, Bowman was tied for the nation lead in goals with nine...Freshman Brooke Madsen tallied her team-leading ninth assist of the year Friday night...Bowman extended her point streak to four games (4-3--7)...Petersen extended her point streak to a season-best four games (3-4--7)...Mercyhurst's goal at 10:47 in the first period snapped Penn State's shutout scoreless streak of 131:27, which is the third-best streak in program history...The goal also snapped Daniela Paniccia's shutout scoreless streak of 195:13...Penn State went 1-for-5 on the power play, while Mercyhurst went 2-for-6...Mercyhurst outshot Penn State, 40-18.