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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's hockey team dropped its series opener to the Mercyhurst Lakers by a 3-1 decision Friday afternoon at the Pegula Ice Arena.
Following Friday's game, the Nittany Lions are now 2-6-3 overall and 0-1-2 in the College Hockey America (CHA) conference, while Mercyhurst improves to 2-6-1 and 2-1-0 in the CHA.
Scoring got underway 10:56 into the first period when Mercyhurst's Vilma Tanskanen scored her first of two goals on the afternoon to give the Lakers a 1-0 advantage. Shortly after, it was Summer-Rae Dobnson netting the power-play goal to give her team a two-goal advantage.
Just 22 seconds into the second period, some tick-tack-toe passing from Natalie Heising (Maple Grove, Minn.) and Bella Sutton (Shoreview, Minn.) to Brooke Madsen (Eagan, Minn.) who found the back of the net for the power-play goal to cut the deficit in half.
Mercyhurst was able to score an insurance goal in the final period, when Tanskanen rifled home a goal from the point for her second of the afternoon to at 5:09.
Penn State's Hannah Ehresmann (Minnetonka, Minn.) turned away 25 Mercyhurst shot attempts and Sarah McDonnell went the distance for the Lakers posting 22 saves.
The two teams finish the series on Saturday at the Pegula Ice Arena with puck drop scheduled for 2 p.m.
NOTES: Mercyhurst leads the all-time series over Penn State, 16-3-2...Mercyhurst outshot Penn State, 28-23...Both teams were 1-for-5 on the power-play...Madsen netted her second-straight game with a goal Friday...Heising extended her point streak to five games (3-3--6).