ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The No. 8/8 Penn State women's hockey team clinched its first-ever College Hockey America regular season title in its 5-0 shutout of RIT Friday afternoon at the Gene Polisseni Center.
Sophomore forward Julie Gough (Newcastle, Ontario) netted her first-career hat trick and the ninth hat trick in program history in the Nittany Lions' historic win.
Penn State (14-1-2, 14-1-2 CHA) also had goals from freshmen Olivia Wallin (Oakville, Ontario) and Jess Ciarrocchi (West Chester, Pa.) and freshman goaltender Josie Bothun (Wyoming, Minn.) completed her third shutout of the season and program-record 14th win behind 13 saves.
"Saying I'm proud of this team is a major understatement," said head coach Jeff Kampersal. "These women have inspired me everyday. I'm impressed with their discipline, their talent, their willingness to get better every day, and their support of one another. Today was a big day for our program but we have more goals to accomplish."
HOW IT HAPPENED
After the action bounced back-and-forth for the majority of the first period, the Nittany Lions struck quick with two goals just a minute apart late in the first to carry a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
Wallin stuffed home a rebound at 17:55 after Alyssa Machado (Mississauga, Ontario) passed to Izzy Heminger (Dublin, Ohio) in the slot for a shot on net that was initially stopped.
Just one minute later, Penn State's forecheck doubled the lead after Kiara Zanon (Fairport, N.Y.) created a turnover behind the RIT cage and set up Gough for a one-time blast into the net with 1:05 left in the period.
Penn State continued its scoring surge early in the second period with two more goals in the first 2:09 of the period. Gough notched her second of the game on the power play at the 54-second mark with assists to Maeve Connolly (West Roxbury, Mass.) and Zanon.
Just over a minute later, Ciarrocchi scored her second of the season with helpers from Connolly and Amy Dobson (Hamilton, Ontario) to give Penn State the commanding 4-0 lead that they would carry all the way into the second intermission.
Gough completed her hat trick on the first shift of the third period after tapping in a rebound on a wide-open cage. Zanon assisted Gough for the third-straight time with the secondary helper and Rachel Weiss had the primary assist.
The Nittany Lions continued its systematic play of possessing the puck and making offensive zone entries for RIT difficult to cruise to its 14th win of the year and first-ever conference regular season title.
GAME NOTES AND STATS
- The Nittany Lions extend their program-best unbeaten streak to 11 games with the win, second-best in the nation behind only Northeastern (15 games). PSU is 10-0-1 during the stretch dating back to Jan. 8, 2021 at Robert Morris.
- By clinching the regular season title, Penn State will be the top seed in the 2021 CHA Tournament held in Erie, Pa. March 4-6. The Nittany Lions will have a bye to the semifinals and will play the lowest seed remaining in the tournament field on March 5.
- Gough's hat trick is the first by a Nittany Lion since Natalie Heising posted her second-career hat trick on March 5, 2020 against RIT in the CHA Tournament.
- Gough's hot streak continues as she has now scored seven times in the last four games. She now leads the CHA with 10 goals this season.
- Wallin sits just behind Gough with her nine goals, leading all CHA rookies in the scoring category.
- Bothun's spectacular season continues with her program-best 14 wins in a season through just 17 career starts. Her GAA improved to 1.31, second best in the nation among goaltenders with at least 710 minutes played and her save percentage rose to .950, currently the seventh-best mark in the country.
NEXT UP
Penn State and RIT complete their regular season series against each other Saturday at noon.