WINTROP, Mass. – Three Penn State women's hockey student-athletes took home player of the week honors from the CHA after the first week of regular season action last Thursday and Friday, Sept. 23-24.
Forward Natalie Heising (Wayzata, Minn.) won Forward of the Week, freshman defender Karley Garcia (Roseville, California) was named Defender of the Week and sophomore goaltender Josie Bothun (Wyoming, Minn.) received Goaltender of the Week honors as announced by the league Monday afternoon.
Heising scored a clutch goal in the second game of Penn State's series with St. Lawrence last Friday to tie the game at 2-2 in the third period. The goal gave her 98 career points, just two shy of joining Laura Bowman and Amy Petersen in Penn State's 100-career point club.
She also led all Penn State forwards for the weekend with six shots on goal and a +1 rating. This is her fourth career player of the week honor from the conference.
Garcia sparked a two-goal comeback for the Nittany Lions last Friday with her first-career goal in the second period, springing the Nittany Lion offense to life.
The rookie blue liner is tied for the team lead with seven shots on goal (Rene Gangarosa), including leading the team Friday with six shots on target.
Bothun had a solid showing between the pipes in both of her starts. She made 32 saves with just three goals allowed. Her play in the third period of Thursday's game was especially sharp, as she made 10 of her 16 saves in the period to keep the Nittany Lions within striking distance.
She made another 16 saves in game two, including a key stop on a St. Lawrence 3-on-1 in the second period to allow the Nittany Lions to make a comeback.
The defending CHA Goaltender of the Year, Bothun has won the league's goaltender of the week award three times.
The Nittany Lions are set to take on Boston College this coming Thursday and Friday, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, at Pegula Ice Arena. Both games will start at 7 p.m.
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