ERIE, Pa. – Penn State junior forward Julie Gough (Newcastle, Ontario) continued her hot scoring streak and sophomore goaltender Josie Bothun (Wyoming, Minn.) posted her first shutout of the season in Penn State's 3-0 shutout win at Mercyhurst Saturday afternoon at Mercyhurst Ice Center.
Gough extended her goal-scoring streak to five games in a row with her second period score. Freshman Lexi Bedier (Calgary, Alberta) notched her first career goal to double PSU's lead in the second period and senior defender Rene Gangarosa (Rochester, N.Y.) iced the game with an empty-net goal.
With the win and series split, Penn State (4-4-2) evens its CHA record to 1-1 after the road series against the Lakers (8-4-1, 1-1 CHA)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Nittany Lions held most of the puck possession in a scoreless first period in which PSU outshot Mercyhurst 10-3.
Halfway through the second period, Penn State got on the board first thanks to a couple of great individual efforts. Lyndie Lobdell (Aurora, Ill.) circled with the puck in the offensive zone to create her own shooting lane.
She ripped the puck towards goal and Gough reached her stick out and redirected the puck into the twine to give Penn State the 1-0 lead. Bedier picked up a secondary assist on the play.
Just under five minutes later, Bedier's first goal doubled Penn State's lead. After cycling the puck to Gough below the goal line, Bedier crashed the net as Gough made a power move to the crease.
Gough's first shot was initially stopped by Mercyhurst's Ena Nystrom, but Bedier cleaned up the rebound, putting Penn State ahead 2-0 with 4:20 remaining in the second period.
In the third period, the Nittany Lions did a solid job of keeping Mercyhurst out of threatening scoring areas and nullified the Lakers' lone power-play chance in the period. Bothun was particularly sharp when the puck did get through to her with nine of her 14 stops in the third.
Mercyhurst pulled Nystrom trailing by two with 1:02 left, but Penn State stalled the Lakers and cashed in on the empty net with Gangarosa's first goal of the season with 24 seconds remaining to close the win.
GAME NOTES AND STATS
- Gough's five-game goal streak is tied for the second-best in program history with Laura Bowman (2/20/16-9/30/16) and trails only Shannon Yoxheimer's seven-game streak (10/19/12-11/10/12). She has eight points (5G, 3A) during the streak to lead the Nittany Lions.
- Bedier's two-point effort was the first of her career.
- Bothun now sits alone in second place in the program's career shutouts list with five. The trio of Chantal Burke, Hanna Ehresmann, and Celine Whitlinger hold the top spot with seven each.
- Penn State outshot Mercyhurst 37-14 for the game and have outshot their opponent in every game this season.
NEXT UP
Penn State returns home to Pegula Ice Arena to host Lindenwood in a CHA series November 5-6.