UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 8/9 Penn State women's hockey team plays its final home regular-season series and begins a four-game stretch against RIT this Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 9-10.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
RIT Tigers (1-9-0, 1-9-0 CHA) vs. Penn State Nittany Lions (11-1-2, 11-1-2 CHA)
Dates: Tuesday, Feb. 9 | Wednesday, Feb. 10
Times: 5 p.m. | 5 p.m.
Video: Game 1 | Game 2
Stats: Both games
Game Notes: Penn State Game Notes
THE MATCHUP
Penn State leads the all-time matchup 22-16-3, including a win in the most recent game 4-1 in the 2020 CHA Tournament in Buffalo, N.Y.
The Nittany Lions are 11-3-0 under head coach Jeff Kampersal against RIT since the start of the 2017-18 season. This matchup will be the first series against Penn State for Kampersal's former assistant Celeste Brown, now the head coach for her alma mater.
LAST TIME OUT: ROBERT MORRIS
Penn State set a new program record reaching eight games unbeaten after completing a home series sweep of Robert Morris Feb. 5-6, also completing the regular-season sweep of the Colonials in the process.
Penn State won a tight first game, 2-1, thanks to a third-period score by Kiara Zanon. She followed up Olivia Wallin's game-tying goal in the second period with her third game-winning goal of the season.
In game two, Robert Morris took the initial lead once again but the Nittany Lions stormed back to take the lead. Julie Gough and Amy Dobson scored back-to-back in the second period to take the lead before RMU responded to tie the game 2-2. With 12 seconds left in the 2nd, Wallin netted the go-ahead and eventual game-winning goal. Josie Bothun was great in net with 36 saves, including seven on an extended PK in the third period before Natalie Heising put away an empty-net goal.
BY THE NUMBERS
8 - Penn State is riding a program-best eight game unbeaten streak (7-0-1) that dates back to their Jan. 8 at Robert Morris. Its previous high was seven games (3-0-4) back in 2017-18.
3 - Three Nittany Lions - junior Julie Gough (Player of the Month), Josie Bothun (Goalie), and Kiara Zanon (Rookie) - swept the CHA monthly awards for January.
1 - Freshman forward Olivia Wallin ranks first in the CHA and leads all rookie skaters in the nation with eight goals scored this season.
4 - Four of the top ten point scorers in the CHA are Nittany Lions: Kiara Zanon (1st, 17 pts), Natalie Heising (2nd, 15), Julie Gough and Lyndie Lobdell (T6, 10).
