UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 9/10 Penn State women's hockey team battled to a 2-1 victory over Mercyhurst Saturday night thanks to some stellar penalty killing and a couple of clutch third-period goals.
Penn State's (7-1-1, 7-1-1 CHA) penalty-killing unit finished a perfect 5-for-5 for the night, highlighted by a five-minute PK where goaltender Josie Bothun (Wyoming, Minn.) made some great saves and her defense got in shooting lanes to keep the Lakers (3-3-1) off the board.
"I thought for having an extra week off, our kids came out ready to play. I'm super proud of them," said head coach Jeff Kampersal. "We got ourselves into penalty trouble at different times, especially in that second period, and we did a great job of killing those penalties and then getting a timely PP goal their at the end."
Bothun finished the evening stopping 32 shots while her defense blocked an additional 12. The defense finally transitioned to offense in the third period with a pair of goals by Olivia Wallin (Oakville, Ontario) and Amy Dobson (Hamilton, Ontario).
Dobson assisted Wallin on her score along with Lyndie Lobdell (Aurora, Ill.). Lobdell and Julie Gough (Newcastle, Ontario) assisted on the power-play marker.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After a scoreless first period, the second period also featured extremely defensive hockey as the score was still 0-0 after two periods, but the Nittany Lions defense was put to work in the second to earn the clean sheet.
After a reviewed play, Izzy Heminger was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for head contact at 11:26 in the period, putting the Lakers on a five-minute major power play.
The Nittany Lions defense blocked eight shots and Bothun stopped an additional seven that got to her to keep the game scoreless.
The momentum from the big defensive effort paid off early in the third period when Wallin gave the Nittany Lions the lead. She stuffed in a rebound from the right crease at 2:41 in the third period.
Penn State kept its foot on the gas and drew a penalty to go to the power play and Dobson capitalized on the advantage. After a Lobdell shot on target from the point, Dobson found the loose puck and chipped it in to the net for the insurance goal at 6:46.
The insurance goal proved important after Mercyhurst's Rachel Marmen made a great individual play coast-to-coast to score unassisted and cut the lead to just one with 5:07 remaining. The Lakers had a power-play chance just after the goal, but the Nittany Lions remained composed to stop the advantage and hold down the Lakers to just the one goal.
GAME NOTES & STATS
- Penn State won the special teams battle by converting on 1-of-2 power plays with four shots on goal while shutting down Mercyhurst's strong PP unit all five times with Bothun making 10 saves.
- Dobson multi-point effort was the first of her career. It was the second time Lobdell had two assists in a game this season (Nov. 30 vs. Lindenwood).
- Bothun improved to 7-1-1 with a 1.55 GAA and .948 save percentage for the season. She has made at least 21 saves in every game this season.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions play the Lakers tomorrow at 2 p.m. to finish the weekend series.