PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Penn State women's hockey team held a two-goal lead in the third period but a strong surge from St. Cloud State tied the game and allowed the Huskies to eventually win 4-3 in overtime Saturday evening at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.
The Nittany Lions (10-7-2) had three different goal scorers in the contest with Julie Gough (Newcastle, Ontario) and Olivia Wallin (Oakville, Ontario) both scoring in the first period and Lyndie Lobdell (Aurora, Ill.) scoring in the third period.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Nittany Lions used a fast start to get on the board with a pair of quick strikes. On the game's first power play, Penn State capitalized to score first after Mallory Uihlein's (Edina, Minn.) shot from the right point was redirected by Gough in between the circles and into the cage.
Gough's eighth goal of the season had PSU in front 1-0 at 4:14 in the opening frame.
Just over a minute later, the Nittany Lions doubled their lead thanks to Wallin and a couple of crafty displays of puck handling for two assists. Karley Garcia (Roseville, Calif.) made a great touch pass off the boards in her own zone to spring Lexi Bedier (Calgary, Alb.) free on the rush.
Bedier banked a pass to herself to enter the offensive end and backhanded the puck towards the net where Wallin cleaned up the rebound to double the lead, 2-0, at 5:43 in period one.
Bothun also added a pair of saves later in the first period, including one on a solid Huskies chance on a power play, to keep St. Cloud off the board and send Penn State to the break up two.
St. Cloud managed to get a score back with 6:45 to play in the second period on power-play score. The lone goal of the second brought the game to a 2-1 Penn State lead entering the second intermission.
An early Huskies' penalty proved to be just what Penn State needed early in the third period as it allowed the Nittany Lions to re-extend the lead to two scores. Kiara Zanon (Fairport, N.Y.) circled behind the cage with the puck and found Lobdell in the slot for a one-timer through traffic to give Penn State the 3-1 edge with 17:09 left to play.
But St. Cloud would continue to battle and the Huskies' efforts paid off. They scored twice in the third to tie the game, the first coming with 7:11 remaining another second with 2:11 left to knot the game at 3-3.
The game went to overtime and St. Cloud took advantage of the first chance it got 37 seconds into the period to claim the OT victory.
GAME NOTES AND STATS
- Julie Gough has five power-play goals to lead Penn State in the 2021-22 season. That total is tied for third most in a season by Nittany Lion.
- Wallin has scored 15 goals in her first 30 career games. Her 0.50 goal per game average is the best in Penn State history among student-athletes with at least 30 games played.
NEXT UP
Penn State will face Boston University in tomorrow's Battle At the 'Burgh consolation game starting at noon.