ERIE, Pennsylvania – The No. 7/7 Penn State women's hockey team clawed its way back into its CHA semifinal game after falling into a three-goal hole against Syracuse, but the Orange hung on to defeat the Nittany Lions 3-2 Friday afternoon at the Erie Insurance Arena.
Freshman Olivia Wallin (Oakville, Ontario) netted back-to-back goals in the third period to close the Syracuse lead to just one. Wallin's linemates Alyssa Machado (Mississauga, Ontario) and Rachel Weiss (Calgary, Alberta) each made great individual plays to set up Wallin for her goals.
Freshman goaltender Josie Bothun (Wyoming, Minnesota) made 28 saves, including 13 in the first period.
"We had a couple bad bounces and consecutive penalties that went against us and we were down 3-0, but they never quit," said head coach Jeff Kampersal. "We gave it a good run in the third period and had a few chances to tie it up. I'm really proud of our group."
Penn State (16-3-2) was plagued by penalties in the first two periods with four infractions, one of which resulted in a Syracuse goal.
Syracuse (12-8-1) moves on to play the winner of Mercyhurst-Robert Morris in the CHA championship game.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Penn State had to stifled a pair of penalties in the first period but were successful in doing so. However, just after the completion of the second penalty with 2:56 left in the first period, Syracuse's Madison Beishuzen took a shot that deflected off a Penn State defender and fluttered just out of the reach of Bothun and into the net to give the Orange a 1-0 edge.
Kiara Zanon (Fairport, N.Y.) had a quality scoring chance late in the final minute of the first period, but her shot attempt rang off the post and allowed Syracuse to take a one-goal lead to the first break.
The penalty bug finally costed the Nittany Lions in the second period on the fourth power-play of the game for the Orange. Anna Leschyshyn scored the power-play marker to put Syracuse in front 2-0.
The Orange scored a third goal at 12:24 off the stick of Emma Polaski after an officials' review, giving Syracuse a commanding 3-0 lead with 7:26 to play in the second period.
Needing a spark, Penn State found life just 58 seconds into the third period on Wallin's first score. After Machado lifted a stick to force a turnover in the offensive end, Wallin ripped a wrist shot just under the crossbar to cut into Syracuse's lead, 3-1.
Wallin found the net a second time after a great setup from Weiss just in front of the cage. Weiss slide a pass to Wallin on the right side of the cage and she buried it at 11:02 in the third and shrunk the deficit to one.
The Nittany Lions had a few more chances down the stretch and pulled Bothun for the extra attacker in the final minute, but Syracuse was able to fend off the Penn State rush to close out the win.
