UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women's hockey team scored twice in the first period on its way to a 2-2 tie with conference-leading Robert Morris Saturday afternoon in front of 1,034 fans, the ninth-highest attendance at Pegula Ice Arena in program history.
The Nittany Lions (10-11-7, 5-5-4 CHA) received goals from Abby Welch and Natalie Heising to take the lead in the first period. Chantal Burke recorded 35 saves for the Nittany Lions, including 17 saves in the third period and overtime.
"I'm proud of the team for sure," said head coach Jeff Kampersal. "I thought, stemming from yesterday to today, that we had great alertness and intensity in what we were doing. Got off to a fast start and then I didn't agree with the penalties out against us to put us on 5 on 3, I thought that changed the complexion, but our players did a good job, weather in the storm, they put in a lot of heart and soul and I thought we played a solid third and then I thought we played an unbelievable overtime."
Robert Morris (16-9-3, 10-3-1) tied the game with goals in the second and third period and picked up their first conference tie of the year.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Penn State played one of its best periods of the season to begin the game and sped out to a 2-0 lead. The Nittany Lions controlled puck possession and limited Robert Morris' scoring opportunities while capitalizing on their own.
Penn State's first goal came just 2:10 into the game thanks to a lucky bounce for Penn State. Abby Welch gathered the puck on the forecheck behind the net and threw it in front of the net. It went off a RMU defender's stick and into the goal to give PSU the 1-0 lead.
A fortuitous deflection, but we'll take it! Just throw it towards the net! 1-0 from Abby Welch!#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/9Fjb2Zx2AD
— Penn State Women's Hockey (@PennStateWHKY) February 8, 2020
The Nittany Lions weren't done yet as another good bounce led to a 2-1 breakaway for Shea Nelson and Natalie Heising. Nelson quickly passed to Heising who buried the shot to give Penn State the 2-0 edge, a lead they held into the first intermission.
Off to the races! Nelson to Heising on the breakout! 2-0 Nittany Lions in the first period! pic.twitter.com/mtU8vO3rg2
— Penn State Women's Hockey (@PennStateWHKY) February 8, 2020
Robert Morris mustered a response in the second period with a 5-on-3 power-play goal at 9:08 in the second period. Emily Curlett's blast from the point cut Penn State's lead down to 2-1.
Scoring chances were few to come by early in the third period, but the Colonials managed to find the game-tying score with 5:52 left. Anna Fairman shoveled a nice pass from the blue line to Michaela Boyle in the slot for her conference-leading 18th goal of the season to tie the score 2-2.
Penn State held off a furious rush from the Colonials in the final minutes with Chantal Burke making several great saves for Penn State. She had 11 total saves in the third period alone.
Robert Morris continued an offensive surge in the overtime frame with six more shots on goal, all stopped by Burke. The Nittany Lions also had a handful of rushes but couldn't find the back of the net on their two shots on goal.
GAME NOTES
- Heising's goal in the first period was her 43rd career goal, moving into second place all time on the Penn State goal scoring list trailing just Laura Bowman (61). The goal also came in Heising's 100th career game played.
It's a big game for Natalie Heising! It's her 100th career game & with her goal in 1st period, she became #2 in career goals in program history! 🥅🦁#WeAre | #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/kDwCckTNBj
— Penn State Women's Hockey (@PennStateWHKY) February 8, 2020
- Chantal Burke now has seven-straight games with at least 20 saves after her 35-save effort. That total is her second-highest of the season and the sixth time she's had 30-or-more saves in a game this year.
- Penn State outshot Robert Morris 22-19 in the first two period while RMU had 18 shots to Penn State's eight in the third period and overtime combined.
- Izzy Heminger led the Nittany Lions with 3 blocked shots while defensive partner Rene Gangarosa had a team-high five shots on net.
- Penn State held Jaycee Gebhard, the CHA's leading point scorer, without a point in both games this weekend.
NEXT UP
Penn State has back-to-back road conference series at RIT and Lindenwood, with their trip to Rochester coming up next weekend, Feb. 14-15.
For the latest updates on Penn State women's ice hockey, follow @PennStateWHKY on Twitter, "like" the Penn State Women's Ice Hockey page on Facebook, and follow @pennstatewhky on Instagram