MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. – The No. 8 Penn State women's hockey team battled to a 2-2 tie at Lindenwood Saturday evening at the Centene Community Ice Center to complete its regular-season series with the Lions.
After dropping behind the Lions twice in the game, Penn State (9-1-2, 9-1-2 CHA) had big response goals from junior forward Julie Gough (Newcastle, Ontario) and freshman forward Olivia Wallin (Oakville, Ontario) in the second period.
Freshman goaltender Josie Bothun made 23 saves, including a couple on LU (2-7-1, 2-7-1 CHA) breakaways to preserve the tie.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Bothun made the game's first big play stopping a Lindenwood breakaway in the first half of the period, but the Lions still managed to find the game's first goal with time winding down in the first period on the power play.
Sierra Burt gave the Lions the lead after lifting a shot under the crossbar from in close, giving Lindenwood the 1-0 edge heading into the first break.
Gough tied the game up for Penn State just 3:05 into the second period after making a great read and crashing the net. After Zanon and Heising made a play on net, Gough rushed to the crease and buried the rebound to tie the game 1-1.
Lindenwood retook the lead after Gough's goal on another power play at the 8:35 mark in the second, but Penn State dominated puck control for the rest of the period and finally tied the game again with 1:51 left in the second thanks to Wallin.
Wallin made a great individual play dangling the puck around the Lindenwood defense and whipping a wrist shot into the twine for her sixth of the season to tie the game 2-2 heading to the second intermission.
The third and overtime periods looked very similar for the Nittany Lions, with PSU holding most of the puck possession but Lindenwood doing a solid job of preventing high-quality scoring chances by getting in shooting lanes.
Bothun came up big in the overtime period with a stop on Lindenwood's Hannah Alt to prevent a breakaway goal. She made four saves in the extra frame to keep the score locked at 2-2 until the final whistle.
GAME NOTES AND STATS
- Penn State extended its unbeaten streak to six games with the tie, one short of tying its longest unbeaten streak of seven games in program history.
- Despite attempting 75 shots to Lindenwood's 37, Penn State had a 37-25 edge in shots on goal, with Lindenwood blocking a whopping 23 shots in the game.
- Penn State still sits atop the CHA standings with 20 points, one point ahead of Robert Morris, the Nittany Lions' next opponent.
NEXT UP
Penn State will host Robert Morris in a battle of the CHA's top two teams next weekend, February 5-6, at Pegula Ice Arena.