ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Penn State women's hockey team battled back tie the score in the third period after trailing, but the RIT Tigers ultimately took down the Nittany Lions 4-3 Saturday afternoon at the Gene Polisseni Center.
Penn State (10-13-7, 5-7-4 CHA) had goals from sophomore Amy Dobson, junior Katie Rankin, and sophomore Rene Gangarosa, with Gangarosa's goal bringing the Nittany Lions back into a tie early in the third.
RIT (11-16-3, 4-11-1) mustered a response each time the Nittany Lions scored to keep the game close and then finally prevailed with its fourth goal of the afternoon to win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Much like Friday's game, power play goals were the story early in the first period as both teams scored on the advantage less than a minute apart.
First, Penn State's Amy Dobson scored her first career goal on a redirect after a RIT hooking penalty. Kate Rydland fired the initial shot from the point and Shea Nelson had the secondary helper on the play.
Shortly after the ensuing faceoff at center ice, Penn State was called for a slashing penalty and RIT took just 26 seconds to tie the game on its power play. Ellie Larson's score came at 4:00 in the first.
The back-and-forth play in the first period continued as the Nittany Lions retook the lead at 13:31. Katie Rankin scooped up the puck from the top of the right circle and ripped a slapshot past RIT goaltender, Terra Lanteigne, for her fourth of the season. Natalie Heising and Rene Gangarosa assisted on the entry into the zone.
Once again, a quick penalty seconds after the proceeding faceoff on Penn State gave RIT another power play the Tigers capitalized on to tie the game again. This time, Logan Land netted the game-tying score for RIT and sent the game to a 2-2 tie at the first break.
RIT snagged its first lead of the game in the second period at even strength. Chantal Burke had just had a nice save sequence the shift prior capped by a glove save, but RIT's Jade Mancini found the back of the net at the 8:43 mark, giving the Tigers a 3-2 edge.
A late RIT penalty in the second period which carried over to the third period was a prime opportunity for the Nittany Lions to knot the score again and they did just that 38 seconds into the third period. Rene Gangarosa uncoiled a shot from the top of the circles through a screen to tie the game at three apiece.
Despite the tying goal from the Nittany Lions, RIT would not momentum favor PSU as they answered yet again with a go-ahead score, this time the game winner, at 6:25 in the period off the stick of Rachel Goff.
GAME NOTES
- Amy Dobson became the second Nittany Lion this weekend to tally a first-career goal. Morgan Rolph scored her first in Friday's game.
- Kate Rydland's assist in the first period gave her points in two-straight games for the first time this year. She also has four points (1G, 4A) in her last eight games.
- Katie Rankin now has 19 career goals, which remains sixth-most in program history.
- Gangarosa's two-point game was her third multipoint game this season. She leads the Nittany Lions with 11 assists.
- Penn State scored twice on the power play for the second-straight game for the first time in the 2019-20 season. They last scored two or more PP goals in back-to-back games Jan. 8 & 11, 2019 vs. Cornell and Lindenwood.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions head to St. Louis for a pair of conference games against Lindenwood Feb. 21-22.