UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women's hockey team had goals scored by senior Natalie Heising (Wayzata, Minn.) and Kiara Zanon (Fairport, N.Y.) in the Nittany Lions' 2-2 tie with RIT in Friday's CHA action at Pegula Ice Arena.
Heising's first-period score marked her 20th of the season, setting a new Penn State (17-9-5, 7-3-3 CHA) single-season record as she broke her old record set in her freshman season in 2017-18.
Zanon assisted on Heising's score and then added a baseball-esque goal to tie the game in the third period with Penn State trailing 2-1.
Josie Bothun (Wyoming, Minn.) stopped 12 shots as Penn State had a 41-14 edge in the shots on goal department.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Heising's milestone goal broke the ice in the scoring department in the first period for both teams. After a face-off win in the offensive end, Zanon and Alyssa Machado won a puck battle in the corner, allowing Machado to find Heising in the middle of the ice.
Heising's first shot was stopped, but her second shot on the backhand found a gap on the near-side post to put Penn State in front 1-0 with 8:10 to play in the first period. The Nittany Lions took that one-goal edge into the first intermission.
Halfway through the second period, RIT found an opening to knot the score at one apiece. Jordan Marchese found room down the left wing and her shot tied the game 1-1 at the 9:06 mark in the second period.
The Nittany Lions had a handful of scoring opportunities to take the lead, namely a pair of great individual effort plays by Zanon and Rachel Weiss (Calgary, Alberta) to create their own space, but the puck was stubborn for the Nittany Lions and somehow kept from crossing the goal line.
RIT wound up taking the lead early in the third period with 17:04 to play. Kyle Aquaro angled the puck into the net with her skate to give the Tigers the 2-1 lead.
Despite being down on the scoreboard, the Nittany Lions found a way to tie the game thanks to a highlight goal by Zanon, who finally found the back of the net after several chances throughout the afternoon.
After Olivia Wallin (Oakville, Ontario) wheeled the puck to Karley Garcia at the point, Garcia put a shot on goal and the rebound shot up in the air. Zanon waited for it to come down below the crossbar and batted it into the cage for her 12th goal of the season, tying the game again with 13:47 to play.
Penn ended up with a couple more chances in the third period, outshooting the Tigers 13-4 in the frame, but the Nittany Lions couldn't find the go-ahead score. Penn State did have a too-many-skaters penalty with just over eight minutes left to play and PSU managed to piece together a good penalty kill to kepe the Tigers off the board.
The game went to overtime and Penn State had two great chances in the extra period. Zanon made a great moved around a defender to pass the puck to herself, but her shot went just wide of the target.
Izzy Heminger (Dublin, Ohio) later found some space for a good scoring chance, but RIT's Sarah Coe made another great save, one of her 39 in the game.
Both teams stalled each other out for the remainder of the overtime period for the game to end in a 2-2 tie.
GAME NOTES AND STATS
- Penn State's 18th win of the season is a new program record, breaking its tie with the 2014-15 season's 17 wins.
- In her last 12 games, Heising has 15 points on eight goals and seven assists. She also also moved into a tie for 10th all time on the CHA scoring list with her 74th career goal.
- Zanon's two-point game was the 13th multipoint game of the season for the sophomore, furthering her Penn State single-season high.
NEXT UP
Penn State concludes its 2021-22 regular season with its final game against the Tigers Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. The Nittany Lions will honor and recognized seniors Avery Mitchell, Amy Dobson, Natalie Heising, Anna Promersberger and Cam Leonard on Senior Day presented by the Penn State Alumni Association.