UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women's hockey team scored three goals in less than a three-minute span early in the third period to erase a two-goal deficit and netted all five of its goals in the final frame to complete a 5-3 comeback victory in CHA action against Lindenwood Friday evening at Pegula Ice Arena.
Penn State (5-4-2, 2-1-0 CHA) trailed 2-0 since the first period but completely shifted momentum early in the third period with scores by Julie Gough (Newcastle, Ontario), Alyssa Machado (Mississauga, Ontario) and Mallory Uihlein (Edina, Minn.).
Kiara Zanon (Fairport, N.Y.) also scored a shorthanded goal for Penn State and Natalie Heising (Wayzata, Minn.) had two assists along with an empty-net goal.
Lindenwood (1-8-0, 1-2-0 CHA) came out hot with two first-period scores and pulled the score back within reach with another goal in the third period, but Penn State's momentum swing proved to be too much for LU as Penn State won its first home conference game of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Despite a 18-7 shots on goal edge in the first period for Penn State, Lindenwood scored twice to lead after the first 20 minutes. The Lions bounced out to a one-goal lead just over six minutes into the contest with an even-strength goal by Kaitlin Finnegan.
With 3:23 left on the clock in the first, LU doubled its lead off the stick of Gigi Pora for the 2-0 advantage into the first break.
In the second period, the Nittany Lions had two primary scoring chances but Lindenwood was able to stop both. The first was a power play with 5:47 left in the period where Penn State peppered Lindenwood goalie Julia Maguire with five shots plus a handful more that were blocked by the Lions' defense.
Then, with 15 seconds left in the period, Maeve Connolly (West Roxbury, Mass.) and Zanon had back-to-back chances on Maguire on the same rush that were both kicked aside by the LU junior goalie and Lindenwood had a two-goal lead entering the third period.
Penn State's offense sprung to life in the third period beginning with Gough's goal 58 seconds into the frame. After Lexi Bedier (Calgary, Alberta) lifted a stick in the offensive end to pry the puck free, Gough swooped in and went straight to the net with the puck. Her shot snuck past Maguire to halve the deficit, 2-1.
At the 2:55 mark in the third, Penn State tied the game on Machado's power-play marker. Izzy Heminger (Dublin, Ohio) ripped a low shot from the point that Machado got her stick on the redirect the puck up and just under the crossbar to tie the game 2-2. Amy Dobson also had an assist on the play.
Less than a minute later, the Nittany Lions took their first lead of the game on another long-range snipe by Uihlein. Heising worked the puck up to Uihlein at the point and the junior defender picked the upper right corner perfectly at 3:54 for her third goal of the season. In less than three minutes (2:56), PSU erased its two-goal deficit and took a 3-2 lead.
The goals kept coming for Penn State, but this time in shorthanded fashion as Zanon's score at 9:41 in the period gave the Nittany Lions a two-goal cushion. Rene Gangarosa (Rochester, N.Y.) cleared the defensive zone on the penalty kill and Zanon banked the puck to herself to spring a breakaway.
Zanon passed across to Heising speeding down the right wing who calmly tapped the puck back to Zanon with a wide-open cage to make the score 4-2 Nittany Lions with 10:19 to play.
Lindenwood showed some fight and managed to get a goal back on its next power play at the 14:08 mark in the third courtesy of Val Caldwell. The Lions also had a handful of good scoring chances to tie the game, but Bothun made her best save of the night with 3:20 remaining one-on-one with a LU player all alone in front of the net.
LU pulled McGuire for the extra attacker put Dobson cleared the zone to Heising who maneuvered down ice to the empty cage for the game-sealing goal with 28 seconds remaining.
NEXT UP
Penn State and Lindenwood conclude their weekend series Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
