BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Penn State women's hockey team finished runners-up at the 2019 Windjammer Classic after falling 3-1 to the No. 7/6 Clarkson Golden Knights Saturday evening at Gutterson Fieldhouse, the home of the University of Vermont Catamounts.
The Nittany Lions (4-8-4) showed great resiliency battling back from a 2-0 deficit to nearly tie the score against the Golden Knights (12-2-4) in the waning minutes.
"Our team played very good hockey this weekend," said head coach Jeff Kampersal. "Today, we gave a great effort against a really good team in Clarkson. I'm proud of how we played overall."
Shea Nelson recorded a power-play goal in the third period with assists from Mallory Uihlein and Rachel Weiss. Goaltender Chantal Burke made 20 saves.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Nittany Lions had an early power play less than three minutes into the game but came up empty on the power play. Shortly after, Clarkson's Elizabeth Giguere maneuvered her way into the offensive zone and snuck one past Burke for the game's first score just under five minutes into the game.
The Golden Knights had another great opportunity to score on a two-on-one with time winding down in the first period, but Burke made an excellent kick save to keep the Nittany Lions within one at the first break.
Penn State had back-to-back power plays in the second but once again could not turn the chances into goals. Clarkson had another golden opportunity to score as Clarkson's Avery Mitchell found the puck and went on a breakaway right out of the penalty box.
Chantal Burke not only stopped Mitchell's breakaway chance, but she also made two more spectacular saves moments later on the same shift to freeze play and keep the deficit at one.
Clarkson did manage to find its second goal of the game at the with 5:27 remaining in the second courtesy of Kayla Friesen to take a 2-0 lead into the second break.
In the third period, the Nittany Lions finally broke through on their fourth power play of the evening. With time winding down on the advantage, Mallory Uihlein came off the bench and received a pass at the point from Rachel Weiss.
Uihlein fired a shot toward the goal that was redirected in by Nelson who was posted up next to the cage to bring the Nittany Lions within one at 12:43 in the third period.
Check out Shea Nelson's sweet redirect on the power play! That's her third goal of the season. 👀#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/HXkgiuYRKy
— Penn State Women's Hockey (@PennStateWHKY) November 30, 2019
Penn State continued to pressure throughout the third period and ended up pulling Burke from net for the extra skater with just under two minutes remaining. Clarkson, however, was able to keep the Nittany Lions from tying the game and sealed the win with an empty-net goal from Kristy Pidgeon with 7.5 seconds remaining.
GAME NOTES
- Mallory Uihlein was named to the Windjammer Classic All-Tournament Team for her performance over the last two games. She tied a program record with three assists in Friday's win over Vermont before adding a fourth for the tournament against Clarkson.
- Uihlein now has seven assists for the season which is tied for the team lead with fellow defender, Rene Gangarosa.
- Nelson's goal was her second in three games and the second she's scored on the power play.
- Chantal Burke has now made at least 20 saves in her last six games and has reached at least 20 saves in eight of her ten starts this season. Her goals against average sits at 1.80 this season with a .931 save percentage.
- Penn State held the high-powered Clarkson offense to just 23 shots on goal, its second-lowest total of the season.
- Penn State returns home Dec. 5-6 for its final series of the season's first half when they host RIT in a College Hockey America showdown at Pegula Ice Arena.