UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women's hockey team had an offensive eruption in the third period to shoot past conference rival RIT 6-2 Saturday afternoon at Pegula Ice Arena, completing the two-game sweep for the weekend.
With the score tied 1-1 after two periods, the Nittany Lions (6-8-4, 2-3-1 CHA) rattled off five-straight goals with the first three coming in the opening 4:39 of the third period.
Natalie Heising scored twice in the third period and added an assist, while teammate Shea Nelson tied her for the game lead with three points on one goal and two assists.
Penn State's additional goal scorers included Amanda McLeod, Katie McMillan, and Anna Promersberger. Chantal Burke earned her sixth win of the year with 12 saves.
RIT's (4-10-2, 1-5-0 CHA) goals came from Taylor Baker and Jade Mancini while three different Tigers saw time in goal.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It took just 3:58 for Penn State get on the board thanks to McLeod's goal. Morgan Rolph pinched in from the blue line to keep the puck in the offensive zone. Mikayla Lantto centered to McLeod from the boards and McLeod's wrist shot went past RIT's Terra Lanteigne for the first score.
The Nittany Lions killed an RIT power play midway through the period, but a second tripping call on the Nittany Lions gave the Tigers another power play that they would capitalize on. Ellie Larson stole a clearing attempt and passed to Taylor Baker at the point for a seeing-eye slapshot to tie the game at 12:58 in the first.
No goals were scored in the second period, but the Nittany Lions had two fend off two more power plays before finally getting a power play of their own. Penn State held RIT to just two shots on goal in the second period and led 23-7 in that category after 40 minutes.
Penn State roared into the lead with three goals in the first five minutes of the third period, starting with Katie McMillan's go-ahead marker just over a minute in. Katie Rankin fired a shot off the pads of Lanteigne and it rebounded right to McMillan's stick for the easy put-back goal.
At 3:26 in the period, Penn State got its eventual game-winning goal from Promersberger, her first of the season. Julie Gough stole the puck on the forecheck and centered to Promerberger who rifled in the shot to make it 3-1.
Just over a minute later, Nelson found a shooting lane on the left side of the ice and scored thanks to help from a nice screen from Heising in front of the net. Heising also had an assist on the play.
With the score 4-1, Heising found the net twice more for the Nittany Lions at 13:10 and 15:37, both at even strength. She cleaned up a rebound on Nelson's shot for her first score and then scored from in close again after a feed from Brooke Madsen from behind the net.
RIT scored late on the power play again on Jade Mancini's redirect on a shot from the point at 18:31.
GAME NOTES
- Penn State's six goals the most they've scored in a game since Feb. 24, 2018, a 6-0 shutout of Lindenwood.
- It's the first time the Nittany Lions have scored five goals in a period since Jan. 4, 2013 in the first period of a 10-0 win over Chatham. The five-goal total remains the most Penn State has scored in a single period in program history, now accomplished twice.
- Heising now has seven career games with two or more goals, a mark that ranks third in program history. The two-goal effort was her first this season.
- Nelson's three-point game was a career high for the junior forward. Her previous high was two points done twice, last done Sept. 27, 2019 at Holy Cross. She has five points (3G, 2A) in her last five games.
- Penn State now has a 26-day break and will be back on the ice after the holidays Jan. 3-4 at Pegula Ice Arena against New Hampshire.