Nov. 9, 2017
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's hockey team (2-6-4, 0-1-3 CHA) heads to Syracuse (1-7-1, 0-0-0 CHA) to begin an 11-game road trip. Puck drop is slated for Friday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 11, at 3 p.m. at the Tennity Ice Pavilion in Syracuse, N.Y.
FOLLOW ALONG
Both games will be streamed for free with Friday's game on Facebook Live via Facebook.com/Cuse, while Saturday's game will be streamed via Cuse.com. Fans can follow along with live stats for both games on GoPSUsports.com.
LAST TIME OUT: MERCYHURST
Penn State closed out its four-game homestand with a loss and a tie against Mercyhurst last weekend, Nov. 3-4. Mercyhurst took the first game of the series, 3-1, before the two teams played to a 1-1 tie in the finale.
In the opener, Mercyhurst tallied a pair of goals within a one-minute span midway through the first period to take a 2-0 lead. Brooke Madsen netted her second goal of the season just 22 seconds into the second period to cut the deficit to 2-1, but it would not be enough, as Mercyhurst added another goal at 5:09 to the third.
In the finale, Christi Vetter picked up her third goal of the season at 6:31 into the second period to take a 1-0 lead, but Mercyhurst leveled things up at 1-1 with 5:08 left in regulation. On Vetter's goal, Madsen extended her point streak to a career-best four games (2-2-4).
In net on the weekend for Penn State, Hannah Ehresmann tallied 25 saves on Friday, while Daniela Paniccia posted a 34-save outing in Saturday's contest.
LOOKING AT SYRACUSE
The Syracuse Orange enter the weekend against Penn State with an overall record of 1-7-1 and a record of 0-0-0 in CHA action. This weekend marks Syracuse's first CHA series of the 2017-18 season.
Last weekend, Syracuse fell to the No. 2 Boston College Eagles, 4-3, in a one-game series.
Along with taking on No. 2 Boston College, Syracuse also dropped a pair of contests against No. 1 Wisconsin in early October.
Against Wisconsin on Oct. 6-7, Wisconsin topped Syracuse, 1-0, before the Badgers recorded a 5-2 victory in the finale.
For the Syracuse offense, Kelli Rowswell leads the team in points (six), and is tied for the team lead in both goals (three) and assists (three).
In net for the Orange, Abbey Miller has started eight of nine games, has a record of 1-6-1, has made 211 saves, posted a save percentage of .906, and has a goals-against average of 2.95.
SERIES HISTORY VS. SYRACUSE
Syracuse leads the all-time series against Penn State, 18-1-3.
The Orange defeated Penn State in all four matchups last season.
IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Heading into the Syracuse series, the duo of Natalie Heising and Katie Rankin have made their impact felt among the freshmen in the College Hockey America conference.
Among freshman in the CHA, Heising is tied for the lead in goals (three), is first in shots (34), is second in points (seven), is tied for third in assists (four), and is fifth in faceoff wins (58).
Along with Heising, Rankin is first in faceoff wins (153), is tied for second in shots (30), is tied for seventh in goals (two), is tied for seventh in points (four), and is tied for eighth in assists (two).
CHA HONORS
Penn State netminders Hannah Ehresmann and Daniela Paniccia opened the 2017-18 season with back-to-back College Hockey America Goalie of the Week honors.
In the season-opening series at No. 5 Minnesota Duluth, Ehresmann made 60 saves, which included a 38-save outing in the series finale. Ehresmann kept the Bulldogs off the scoreboard in four of six periods during the two-game series.
A week later against Union, Paniccia made 24 saves, allowed only one goal, tallied a goals-against average of 0.71 and posted a save percentage of .960.
In addition to Ehresmann and Paniccia, freshman Natalie Heising brought home the CHA Rookie of the Month honor for Sept./Oct.
Among the CHA rookies after the first month of action, Heising ranked first in points (six), was tied for the lead in goals (three), ranked first in shots (32), was tied for second in assists (three), and was fifth in faceoff wins (49).
NEW FACES
Along with the seven freshmen, the Penn State women's hockey program welcomes three new faces to Hockey Valley.
The Nittany Lion freshman class is comprised of Chantal Burke, Natalie Heising,
Cam Leonard, Shea Nelson, Katie Rankin, Morgan Rolph, and Sophie Slattery.
Behind the bench, first-year head coach
Jeff Kampersal brought on Celeste Brown and Allison Coomey to complete his coaching staff.
COACH KAMPERSAL
Jeff Kampersal brings more than 20 years of experience as a head coach to Hockey Valley.
Prior to joining the Nittany Lions during the summer of 2017, Coach Kampersal was the head coach of the Princeton Tigers for 21 seasons. During his tenure at Princeton, Coach Kampersal tallied a record of 327-261-58.
Heading into the 2017-18 season, Kampersal ranks fifth in career victories among active women's hockey coaches with 327, a total that ranks seventh all-time.
SMART LIONS
Seven members of the Penn State women's hockey program were named All-American Scholars for the 2016-17 season, as announced by American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA).
Laura Bowman, Kelsey Crow, Katie McMillan, Amy Petersen, Kelly Seward, Bella Sutton, and Christi Vetter were among the 220 Division I-II student-athletes recognized by the AHCA.
HEISING WINS GOLD
Nittany Lion Natalie Heising and the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team defeated Canada, 3-1, to capture its third-straight IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championship on Jan. 14, 2017.
Heising, a forward from Maple Grove, Minn., was named one of Team USA's three top players of the tournament.
PRESEASON POLL
After finishing fourth in the 2016-17 College Hockey America (CHA) regular season standings, the Penn State women's hockey team was selected fourth in the 2017-18 CHA preseason poll.
WELCOME BACK
Penn State returns 17 letterwinners to the team for the 2017-18 season, including a pair of College Hockey America (CHA) All-Rookie Team honorees.
In their first year donning the Blue & White, Brooke Madsen and Katie McMillan made their presence felt throughout the season.
Madsen, a forward, played in all 35 games and netted 21 points (7g, 14a). Madsen's season was highlighted with a three-assist outing in an 8-1 victory at Union (10/7).
On the blueline, McMillan recorded 11 points on four goals and seven assists in 35 games played.
2017-18 CAPTAINS
Senior defenseman Bella Sutton will captain the 2017-18 Nittany Lions, while Kelsey Crow and Aly Hardy will serve as alternate captains.
Sutton holds the major scoring program records by a defenseman with 14 goals, 31 assists, and 35 points.
On the power play, Sutton ranks fourth all-time in points (26), fourth in goals (nine), and is third in assists (17).
Crow, a junior defenseman, served as an alternate captain last season. Crow ranks third in goals by a defenseman (seven), is fourth in points by a defenseman (15), and is tied for sixth in assists by a defenseman (eight).
Hardy, a senior forward, has played in 83 games and tallied 10 points on three goals and seven assists. Off the ice, Hardy serves as the vice president for the Penn State Student-Athlete Advisory Board (SAAB).
THE 2017-18 SLATE
Penn State is slated to play 34 contests during the 2017-18 regular season, which includes 15 games at the Pegula Ice Arena.
The 2017-18 regular season is highlighted by a trip to Minnesota Duluth (Sept. 29-30), hosting defending NCAA Champion Clarkson (Oct. 13-14), two series against Robert Morris (Oct. 28-29 & Jan. 26-27), a trip to Ohio State (Jan. 5-6), and hosting Princeton (Jan. 30).
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions will play three games over a five-day span. Penn State heads to No. 7 Cornell on Nov. 21, before traveling to UConn for the Nutmeg Classic, Nov. 24-25.