UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women's hockey team came out hot and put together another dominant effort in conference play in its 4-1 win over Lindenwood Saturday afternoon at Pegula Ice Arena.
Junior forward Julie Gough (Newcastle, Ontario) scored another goal to tie the Penn State (6-4-2, 3-1 CHA) record for most-consecutive games with a goal scored at a seven streak, matching Shannon Yoxheimer's mark from the 2012-13 season.
Junior forward Rachel Weiss (Calgary, Alberta) scored first for the Nittany Lions in the first period and senior Anna Promersberger (Fargo, N.D.) also found the back of the net.
"The team came ready to play today which is really good, especially getting a goal in the first three minutes," said head coach Jeff Kampersal. "It was a good thing based on the conversations that we had last night and this morning while we were breaking down the video. So, they were physically and mentally ready to go."
Sophomore forward Kiara Zanon (Fairport, N.Y.) had a game-high three points with two assists and an empty-net goal. Senior forward Natalie Heising (Wayzata, Minn.) added a pair of assists.
"Since they're in conference, winning the last three games is huge," Kampersal said. "We have another bye week so it's good for morale and practicing."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Penn State stressed starting quickly in Saturday's game and a quick goal from Weiss did just the trick for the Nittany Lions. She crashed the net after Zanon's shot on goal and buried the rebound to put Penn State in front 1-0 2:35 into the contest.
Sophomore goaltender Josie Bothun (Wyoming, Minn.) made a spectacular save later in the period after a bouncing puck gave the Lions a good scoring chance. She slid left to right and kicked out the LU attempt to keep Penn State in front.
Penn State had a great penalty kill to start the second period and that momentum eventually resulted in their second score of the afternoon. After Lyndie Lobdell (Aurora, Ill.) kept the puck in the offensive end, the puck glanced off a LU defender and Promersberger ripped a shot just under the crossbar for her second of the season 7:29 into the frame.
The Nittany Lions took that 2-0 lead into the second intermission and continued to dominate possession of the puck in the third.
Penn State took advantage of a power-play try in the third period to expand the margin to three. Gough found a soft sport in the high slot and took a high wrist shot that also snuck under the crossbar with 13:49 left in the period.
With the net empty on a late power play for Lindenwood, Heising dished off to Zanon for an empty-net score to make it 4-0 with 54 seconds to play. Lindenwood wound up spoiling the shutout with 32 seconds left, but the Nittany Lions still wound up with a 4-1 victory.
GAME NOTES AND STATS
- Penn State's unbeaten streak against Lindenwood extends to 16-straight games (13-0-3) after the series sweep.
- Penn State outshot LU 54-19 for the game, including a 34-5 edge after two periods.
- Zanon's three-point effort is her 14th multipoint game through just 33 career games.
NEXT UP
After a bye week, Penn State travels to Syracuse for another CHA showdown Nov. 19-20.