Box Score (PDF)
WORCESTER, Mass. – The Penn State women's hockey team notched its second tie of the weekend with a 1-1 draw against Holy Cross Saturday evening at Hart Center Rink.
The Nittany Lions (0-0-2) trailed for the majority of the third period but a late goal by Katie McMillan allowed PSU to send the game to OT and clinch the tie.
The goaltending combination of Jenna Brenneman and Chantal Burke made 23 saves for Penn State with only the one goal allowed. Holy Cross netminder Julie Pelletier countered with 31 saves.
Holy Cross opened the scoring after nearly two periods of scoreless, defense-dominated hockey. Despite a Penn State power play, the Crusaders broke the ice on a shorthanded goal by Carly Magier with 1:20 left in the second. Rachel Moore had an assist on the play.
After the Holy Cross goal, Burke entered the crease to replace the starter, Brenneman, and held the fort from then on with 10 saves without a goal allowed in the third period and in overtime.
Penn State desperately tried to tie the game in the third but had to kill a pair of Holy Cross power plays before getting a chance on the advantage for itself. When the Nittany Lions went to the power play after a Crusader tripping call, the scoring chances started to pile up for PSU.
The Nittany Lions had five shot attempts on the advantage that began with 3:17 left in the game, including an attempt by Jessica Adolfsson that hit the goal post. As the power play was about to expire, McMillan found the back of the net with 1:35 remaining to tie the game for Penn State and consequentially force overtime.
In overtime, similar to the night before, the Nittany Lions held the majority of the scoring chances with nine shot attempts to the Crusaders' one, but neither team found the golden goal as the five-minute extra frame expired.
GAME NOTES
- McMillan's goal gave her 37th career point, which is now tied for ninth on the program's all-time list with Taylor Gross ('14). Her 18 career power-play points ranks eighth among all Nittany Lions, just behind current teammate Brooke Madsen (20).
- Penn State held a 32-24 edge in shots on goal and went 1-for-2 on its power-play chances. Meanwhile the Nittany Lions' penalty kill was a perfect 3-for-3.
- Penn State doubled up Holy Cross in with 33 face-off wins to the Crusaders' 15. (Katie Rankin was once again dominant in the face-off circle. She went 17-3 at the dot and has now won an outstanding 85.3 percent (29-of-34) of her faceoffs through two games.
- Rankin and Natalie Heising led Penn State with four shots on goal each. Izzy Heminger added three shots while blocking a team-best two shots.
- Penn State has now played in 28 overtime games since the beginning of the 2017-18 season, the most in the nation over that span.
- The Nittany Lions return to action next weekend in Madison, Wisc. when they take on top-ranked Wisconsin for the first time in program history. Both Friday and Saturday's contests are scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. EST.