SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Penn State women's hockey team had two goals scored by freshman forward Olivia Wallin (Oakville, Ontario), but it wasn't enough as the Nittany Lions dropped their first game of the 2020-21 season, 4-2, to Syracuse Saturday afternoon at Tennity Ice Pavilion.
Wallin opened the scoring in the first and second periods for Penn State (4-1-1, 4-1-1 CHA) but Syracuse (2-4-1, 2-2-1) managed to answer back each time and eventually took its first lead in the third period.
Fellow freshman Kiara Zanon (Fairport, N.Y.) assisted Wallin on both of her goals. Senior Natalie Heising (Wayzata, Minn.) and freshman Lyndie Lobdell (Aurora, Ill.) also picked up helpers in the game.
Freshman goaltender Josie Bothun made a season-high 42 saves for Penn State in the loss.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Wallin netted her second of the season and first of the game at 11:23 in the opening period. Wallin crashed the net and had a great tip-in on Lobdell's shot from the point to give Penn State the lead.
Syracuse responded less than two minutes later with its first goal of the game courtesy of Sarah Thompkins at 13:29. The score remained tied 1-1 heading to the second period.
In the next frame, Wallin showed a scorers' touch once again to give Penn State the lead. After Syracuse had an extended shift in Penn State's zone with a few great stops by Bothun, the Nittany Lions took advantage of a quick line change with Heising, Zanon and Wallin springing a 3-on-1 rush.
Heising found Zanon who made a one-touch pass back to Wallin who ripped a shot on and scored on the open cage 3:35 into the second period.
From there on out, the scoring went entirely Syracuse's way. Abby Moloughney tied the game again at two apiece at the 7:40 mark in the period. Then the Orange flipped the scoring trend with a go-ahead goal from Emma Polaski at 4:02 in the third period.
Victoria Klimek sealed the win for the Orange with an empty-net score with 11 seconds remaining.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions await official announcement from College Hockey America regarding the next phase of the 2020-21 regular season schedule, which will resume in the next calendar year.
Please check GoPSUsports.com/whky for the latest schedule announcements for women's hockey.
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.
