Women's Hockey Battles In 5-2 Loss To #10/10 BostonWomen's Hockey Battles In 5-2 Loss To #10/10 Boston
Craig Houtz

Women's Hockey Battles In 5-2 Loss To #10/10 Boston

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women's hockey team battled but lost its first home game of the season in a 5-2 loss to #10/10 Boston University Friday afternoon at Pegula Ice Arena.
 
In a game much closer than the final score indicated, the Nittany Lions (3-3-3) had a shorthanded goal from Brooke Madsen and Rachel Weiss also added her first career goal for PSU.
 
"I thought our players played with a lot of heart and soul, particularly in the second period," said head coach Jeff Kampersal. "I think we played really gritty. [We had] blocked shots on the defensive end, got a lot of pucks on net on the offensive end, and pulled pucks off walls. I thought it was a good, solid effort with everybody supporting one another. The outcome is what it is, but I'm proud of the way that they played."
 
Katie McMillan assisted Madsen on her shorthanded goal and Rene Gangarosa earned a helper on Weiss' score.
 
Cam Leonard started her first game of the season in goal for the Nittany Lions and made 26 saves.
 
Boston (4-1-1) has now won three-straight games.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Terriers didn't take long taking the initial advantage, needing just 22 seconds to get on the board. A nice passing sequence by BU's Deziray De Sousa and Nara Elia allowed Kristina Schuler to find the loose puck and stuff it home for a 1-0 lead.
 
BU doubled its lead at the 7:28 mark when Sammy David tapped a centering pass from Emma Wuthrich into the net while speeding down the center of the ice. Mackenna Parker had a secondary assist on the play and the Terriers went into the first intermission leading 2-0.
 
Penn State had the upper hand in the second period with nine shots on goal to BU's eight, but a penalty on the Nittany Lions at the 12:25 in the period put BU on the power play and gave the Terriers an ample opportunity to go up 3-0.
 
Brooke Madsen had other ideas for the Nittany Lions when she gathered the puck in the neutral zone and went in on a shorthanded breakaway. She wound up going to the backhand to score and pull Penn State within one at 14:24.


 
Boston bounced right back 1:24 into the third period to regain a two-goal advantage on Abby Cook's blast from the point, assisted by Alex Allan and Natasza Tarnowski.
 
The Nittany Lions would not go away, however, as a BU roughing penalty put the Nittany Lions on the power play at 4:50. With time winding down on the advantage, Rachel Weiss let her shot rip from the point and it found the back of the net for her first collegiate goal at 6:26.


 
Back-and-forth penalties in the third period put the game on edge for both squads at various points, but BU wound up finding the dagger goal on its last power play of the afternoon. Elia Nara batted home the puck from just in front of the goalmouth on a nice feed from Julia Nearis with 4:51 remaining.
 
Penn State pulled Leonard for the extra attacker down 4-2 with just under two minutes left, but BU held off the Nittany Lions and Kaliegh Donnelly scored on the empty net with five seconds remaining to end the game 5-2.
 
GAME NOTES

  • BU outshot the Nittany Lions 31-24 for the game. Penn State won the face-off battle 23-20 and had a 17-13 edge in blocked shots.  
  • Madsen's shorthanded goal was the first for Penn State since Abby Welch's shorty in the first round of the 2019 CHA Tournament March 6 against RIT. Madsen has now scored a goal in three-straight games, the first Nittany Lion to do so since Natalie Heising Feb. 24-March 2, 2018.
  • Katie McMillan's fifth assist of the season ranks her fifth overall in the CHA in assists on the season.
  • The Nittany Lions and Terriers finish up their series tomorrow at Pegula Ice Arena starting at 1 p.m. It will be the Nittany Lions' annual Thon Game.