UNIVERSITY PARK, Pennsylvania – Three Penn State women's hockey players received honors from College Hockey America this week for their individual performances to begin the 2020-21 season.
Penn State senior Natalie Heising (Wayzata, Minn.) and freshman Josie Bothun (Wyoming, Minn.) picked up CHA monthly awards for November as announced Wednesday afternoon. Heising was tabbed CHA Player of the Month and Bothun was chosen Goaltender of the Month.
In addition, Bothun and freshman Kiara Zanon (Fairport, N.Y.) won CHA Goaltender of the Week and CHA Rookie of the Week respectively as announced on Monday for their play last week, Nov. 30-Dec. 6.
Heising netted three goals and added an assist in Penn State's two November games against Lindenwood Nov. 29-30. With her third goal of the series, Heising became just the second Nittany Lion ever to reach the 50 career goal milestone. The goal was also her 81st career point, moving her into sole possession of third place on Penn State's all-time scoring list.
The player of the month award was Heising's second after being awarded the accolade for December 2019.
In goal, Bothun shined first four career starts, picking up her third win of the season Saturday against Syracuse and following that up with a season-best 35 saves in Sunday's overtime tilt.
She continues hold the longest unbeaten streak for any Penn State goaltender to start her career. For the season, she is 3-0-1 with a 0.98 GAA, .967 save percentage and one shutout which came in her first career start Nov. 29 against Lindenwood.
Zanon scored the go-ahead goal with 7.1 seconds left in the second period to power PSU's 2-1 win on Saturday. She is currently tied with senior Natalie Heising for the team lead with four points (2G, 2A) through four games.
She leads all Penn State forwards with a +3 rating and is tied for second on the team with 20 shots on goal.
The Nittany Lions return to play this weekend at Syracuse Dec. 11-12. Friday's game starts at 7 p.m. followed by Sunday's contest at 3 p.m.
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.
