Jan. 9, 2018
Rosemont, Ill. - Sophomore Nate Sucese (Fairport, N.Y.) was named the Big Ten Third Star of the Week as announced by the league office following his performance this past weekend against then-No. 15 Wisconsin.
Sucese scored the game-winning goal while securing his first career hat-trick, the sixth in Penn State history, during a 5-1 victory on Friday night before assisting on classmate Liam Folkes' (Scarborough, Ont.) opening goal on Saturday.
Sucese is currently riding a four-game point streak and has scored six goals and added a pair of assists for eight points during that stretch. His six goals over his last four games rank first in the Big Ten during this stretch and third in the nation only behind the nine scored by C.J. Suess of Minnesota State and the seven by Darien Craighead from Northern Michigan who have each played double the amount of games that Sucese has.
The sophomore is currently tied for the team lead in goals with junior Andrew Sturtz (Buffalo, N.Y.) as each player has ten goals on the season to rank tied for fourth in the Big Ten.
In seven career games against the Badgers, Sucese now has six goals and six assists for 12 points to lead all active Penn State players. Sucese's 55 career points also rank sixth in NCAA career scoring amongst sophomores, classmate Denis Smirnov (Moscow, Russia) paces all second-year players with 64 points.
Sucese also cracked the top-10 of the Penn State career goal scoring list this past weekend and is now tied with Tommy Olczyk '16 for ninth with 27 career goals.
The sophomore becomes the fourth Nittany Lion to earn Big Ten weekly accolades this season joining Smirnov, Sturtz and fellow classmate Brandon Biro (Sherwood Park, Alb.). This also marks his third career weekly award after being honored twice last season.
The 13th-ranked Nittany Lions will put their 10-game unbeaten streak on the line as they host No. 6 Ohio State for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday evening. The Buckeyes are also riding a 6-game winning-streak with their last lost coming at the hands of Penn State back on December 2.
FULL BIG TEN RELEASE