ITHACA, N.Y. – The Penn State women's hockey team enjoyed a five-goal outburst in a 5-0 nonconference victory over Cornell Tuesday evening at Lynah Rink.
The Nittany Lions (15-9-4) had four different goal scorers in the contest, led by Kiara Zanon (Fairport, N.Y.) who found the back of the net twice.
Mya Vaslet (Stittsville, Ontario), Alyssa Machado (Mississauga, Ontario) and Rachel Weiss (Calgary, Alberta) also scored for Penn State to avenge a 6-1 loss back in early January to the Big Red (10-11-2).
In goal, Josie Bothun (Wyoming, Minn.) stopped all 16 shots that came her way and that allowed her to earn her seventh shutout of the season, tying a Penn State single-season high set by Chantal Burke in 2019-20.
HOW IT HAPPENEDED
Penn State and Cornell were each playing a bit more conservative early on with few chances on net either way, but that quickly changed at the 8:10 mark of the first period when the Nittany Lions got on the board first.
Amy Dobson (Hamilton, Ontario) made a great play on the left wing boards to get the puck to Vaslet who tucked a quick shot from a sharp angle for her fourth of the season and putting Penn State in front 1-0.
The Nittany Lions later took advantage of the first power play of the night to double its lead. Zanon pushed home a loose puck on the goal line after a great backdoor look from Lyndie Lobdell (Aurora, Ill.) reached Zanon through traffic. Mallory Uihlein (Edina, Minn.) also picked up an assist as Penn State led 2-0 with 4:35 to play in the first.
Penn State and Zanon weren't done with first-period scoring, though, as the sophomore center added another goal on a Cornell turnover in the neutral zone in the period's final minute. Natalie Heising (Wayzata, Minn.) tipped a pass, scooped up the loose puck and hit Zanon down the middle of the ice.
Zanon went far side top corner with a great wrist shot for her second of the night, giving Penn State the 3-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
The goals kept coming for Penn State in the second period as the puck cooperated and bounced Penn State's way. After a dump into the offensive zone, the puck took a wild bounce off the back boards and shot out in between the circles where Machado was driving the net.
Machado buried the puck on the wide-open cage with Cornell's goalie behind the goal line attempting to play the puck before it bounced, making it 4-0 Nittany Lions with 11:20 to play in the second period.
In the third period, Weiss capped off the night with a highlight-reel goal to get the Nittany Lions to the five-goal margin. After a great pass by Dobson through the neutral zone, Weiss zipped around the defense and deked to the backhand for a beautiful goal to cap the 5-0 win for Penn State.
GAME NOTES AND STATS
- Penn State's power-play goal in the first period was its first in eight games, breaking a drought on the advantage.
- Zanon's multigoal game was her first this season and the second of her career.
- Bothun is also creeping up the CHA record books with the shutout, as she now ranks third in conference history with seven shutouts in a season. With 11 shutouts in her career, Bothun ranks 9th in conference history.
- Speaking of CHA records, Heising's assist gives her 133 career points, good for 15th-most in conference history. She's just one goal behind 14th place and six behind 13th.
NEXT UP
Penn State heads to Brooklyn to take on LIU in a two-game series Friday and Saturday, Feb. 11-12, to complete its nonconference schedule.