Feb. 16, 2018
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's hockey team used a three-goal second-period to capture a 4-1 victory over College Hockey America (CHA) opponent RIT Friday evening inside the Pegula Ice Arena.
After the RIT Tigers (4-24-3, 1-16-0 CHA) struck first just 2:55 into the contest on a goal from Mallory Rushton, the Nittany Lions (7-13-11, 4-6-7 CHA) rattled off three goals in a span of 11-minutes and 18-seconds in the second period to take a 3-1 lead.
Freshman Natalie Heising (Maple Grove, Minn.) got things going for the Penn State offense on a power-play goal off a rebound at 7:17 into the second frame. On Heising's first goal of the evening, Kelsey Crow (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Katie McMillan (Minnetonka, Minn.) were credited with assists.
Then it was Heising once again, this time with 7:28 remaining in the second period. On the go-ahead goal from the rookie, Brooke Madsen (Eagan, Minn.) and Crow recorded assists.
The Nittany Lions wouldn't be done in the middle stanza as freshman Sophie Slattery (Edina, Minn.) captured her fourth career goal at 18:35 to put the Nittany Lions in front of the Tigers, 3-1. After RIT netminder Jenna De Jonge made an initial save on junior Meike Meilleur (Winnipeg, Manitoba), Slattery was there to corral the rebound and find the back of the net.
Midway through the third period, sophomore Kate Rydland (Eden Prairie, Minn.) captured her first goal of the season on a power-play tally at 9:04 to make it a 4-1 contest for the Blue & White. On Rydland's goal from near the blue line, Bella Sutton (Shoreview, Minn.) and Abby Welch (East Amherst, N.Y.) tallied assists.
In net, senior Hannah Ehresmann (Minnetonka, Minn.) recorded 10 saves on the evening, while De Jonge posted a 35-save outing for the Tigers.
The two teams close out the series tomorrow, Feb. 17, at 3 p.m. inside the Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions will be hosting their final post-game skate session of the season on Saturday.
NOTES: Penn State leads the all-time series against RIT, 14-13-3…Penn State outshot RIT, 39-11…Penn State went 2-for-6 on the power play, while RIT went 0-for-4…Heising recorded her second two-goal outing in as many games, and her third overall…Madsen tallied her team-leading 15th assist of the season…Heising leads the team in goals with 13…Heising's 22 points and 13 goals this season each rank second all-time by a Penn State freshman…Crow recorded her third career game with at least two assists.