BUFFALO, New York – The Penn State women's hockey team played one of its most complete games of the season and earned a 4-1 victory over RIT to win its first-round matchup in the CHA Tournament Wednesday evening at the Harborcenter.
Penn State (13-13-9) won the special teams' battle as it scored both on the power play and shorthanded while not allowing RIT (12-18-5) to score on its advantages.
Jessica Adolfsson scored on the power play in the first period to give Penn State the initial advantage while Abby Welch followed up early in the second with a momentum-shifting shorthanded goal.
Shea Nelson and Natalie Heising each put their final touch on the game with empty-net goals late in the third period.
Jenna Brenneman made 17 saves in the winning effort.
RIT's Brinna Dochniak scored the Tiger's lone goal in the third period. Goaltender Terra Lanteigne stopped 38 shots for RIT.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Period
- RIT went to the first power play of the evening at 6:46 when Shea Nelson was called for tripping, bit the Nittany Lions blocked a pair of shots on the kill and Jenna Brenneman made a save to keep RIT off the board.
- Penn State wasted no time converting on its first power play of the game when RIT's Hunter Barnett took a slashing call at 14:31. Jessica Adolfsson took her trademark slapshot from the point on the power play and it found its way through traffic past RIT goaltender Terra Lanteigne for the first goal. Izzy Heminger and Natalie Heising picked up assists on the goal.
- The Nittany Lions had another power play late in the period at 17:30 but were unable to convert and took its one-goal lead into the intermission.
- Shots on goal: Penn State 15-5
- Score after period: Penn State 1-0
Second Period
- Penn State looked to be on its heels a bit early in the second period as they went shorthanded early in the frame. After Katie McMillan pushed a rolling puck past the RIT forwards, Abby Welch took possession and moved into the RIT zone down the right wing. She shot once on goal and followed up the rebound to slide the puck into the net for Penn State's first shorthanded goal of the season at 2:45.
- The Nittany Lions had three power play chances in the period put did not take advantage.
- Penn State fended off three total RIT power plays in the period in addition to its shorthanded goal.
- Shots on goal: Penn State 14-3
- Score after period: Penn State 2-0
Third Period
- RIT managed to bring the score back within one early in the third period. Brinna Dochniak scored with an assist from Tori Haywood to get the Tigers on the board at 1:36.
- The Tigers continued to put pressure on the Nittany Lions with their best offensive period of the game. They managed to surpass their shot-on-goal total in the first two periods in the third period alone. Penn State took its timeout at 14:13 in the frame.
- Jenna Brenneman showed great poise after the Tigers scored and ended up making eight big saves in the period to hold on the one-goal lead.
- RIT pulled its goaltender, Lanteigne, for an extra skater with a little over two minutes remaining in regulation. Sophie Slattery lifted an attacking Tiger's stick in the slot and knocked the puck loose to Shea Nelson. Nelson shot the puck from just in front of the right faceoff circle all the way down into the empty net to give Penn State its two-goal edge back at 18:40.
- The Tigers tried pulling its goalie once more only to see the Nittany Lions convert from their own zone a second time less than a minute later. Natalie Heising scored on the empty cage to bring the final score to 4-1.
- Shots on goal: Penn State 13-10
- Final Score: Penn State 4-1
HEAR IT FROM THEM
Head Coach Jeff Kampersal
- "We tried to segment our game into five-minute periods and I thought we did a good job of winning almost all of them. The first goal was huge. We got blocked shots when we needed them. Our defense did a great job of moving the puck and when it stayed in our end, Jenna made the big saves for us. It was a great team effort and a great team win."
- "We won a bunch of 50-50 battles and played with a lot of heart and soul. We made winning, championship plays."
- "We're trying to have the same level of effort tomorrow against Robert Morris. We do remember last year of what happened to us and we want to rectify that."
Junior Forward Abby Welch
- "We want to win every battle. This is a 'do-or-die' situation and every game counts now. We want to win every single battle for each other and for the team."
GAME NOTES
- Penn State is now 3-1 in its last four CHA postseason games against RIT dating back to the 2016 postseason. The Nittany Lions also finished the season 4-1 against the Tigers to extend its lead in the all-time series to 19-14-3.
- Penn State outshot the Tigers 42-18 for the game. The Nittany Lions also went 1-for-5 on the power play while holding RIT scoreless on its four power plays.
- Four of Jessica Adolfsson's five goals this season have come on the power play.
- Abby Welch's shorthanded goal was the first of the season for the Nittany Lions and the first for Penn State since Oct. 6, 2017 when Christi Vetter scored shorthanded in a 3-1 win over Union.
- Jenna Brenneman has tied Penn State's single-season wins record with her 13th victory to match Celine Whitlinger's 13 achieved in the 2014-15 campaign.
NEXT UP
- The Nittany Lions have a rematch of their 2018 CHA Semifinal matchup against top-ranked Robert Morris Thursday afternoon at 4:30 p.m.