Gallery: (9/21/2019) Women's Hockey picks up Exhibition Win
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women's hockey team began its 2019-20 season with a 4-0 exhibition victory over the Durham West Jr. Lightning Saturday afternoon at Pegula Ice Arena.
Penn State scored all its goals in the final two periods, beginning with Brooke Madsen's (Eagan, Minn.) even-strength marker from the goalmouth at 1:44 in the second period.
At 8:01, Natalie Heising (Wayzata, Minn.) batted in a loose puck on the power play to give the Nittany Lions a 2-0 advantage.
Abby Welch (East Amherst, N.Y.) joined in on the goal scoring at 6:10 in the third period after a finishing a nice pass from Katie McMillan (Minnetonka, Minn.) who dished the puck from behind the Durham net.
McMillan then capped the day with her score on a rebound from Shea Nelson's (Evanston, Ill.) shot which glanced off the goal post.
Chantal Burke (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) played all 60 minutes in for Penn State in goal and earned the shutout behind 10 saves.
Head coach Jeff Kampersal noted his team's heightened sense of urgency allowed the Nittany Lions to play their best period in the third.
"I thought we played decently in the first and second," said Kampersal, "but we were really urgent in the third. We started slowly last season and we started slowly today, so we have to fix that. That's what we'll work on this week in practice."
GAME NOTES
- Penn State outshot Durham West 51-10 for the game. The Nittany Lions produced 15 shots on its eight power-play chances, finishing 1-for-8.
- McMillan and Madsen both finished with one goal and one assist to top the Nittany Lions with two points apiece.
- Freshman defender Mallory Uihlein (Edina, Minn.) picked up the primary assist on the games' first goal. Fellow freshman forward Rachel Weiss (Calgary, Alberta) added a helper on the second score.
- Shea Nelson and Katie Rankin (Kanata, Ontario) both led the team with eight shots on goal.
- Freshmen forward Julie Gough (New Castle, Ontario) skated her first game in a Nittany Lion sweater against her former PWHL team. She played for Durham West between 2017-19.
- Penn State begins its 2019-20 regular season slate with a road trip to Worcester, Mass. to take on Holy Cross Friday, Sept. 27 and Saturday, Sept. 28.