UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- Six goals from six different Nittany Lions sealed a 6-0 shutout victory for No.12/12 Penn State over Franklin Pierce on Sunday.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Nittany Lions took a 1-0 edge just 7:18 into the opening period off a goal Alyssa Machado for her second of the season.
- Penn State kept firing in the following period as Olivia Wallin tailed her first goal of the season coming just 58 seconds into the period to put Penn State ahead 2-0.
- Maeve Connolly also scored her first goal later in the period off feeds from Izzy Heminger and Leah Stecker to gain a 3-0 lead on Franklin Pierce.
- The Nittany Lions wrapped up the game in style with three unanswered goals from Tessa Janecke (2:04), Eleri MacKay (14:41) and Mallory Uihlein (17:32) to secure the 6-0 victory.
GOALTENDING
- Josie Bothun was solid in net stopping all 15 shots including four on the power-kill.
GAME NOTES AND STATS
- Four Nittany Lions tallied their first goals of the season.
- Eleri MacKay recorded her first goal as a Nittany Lion.
- Josie Bothun captured her first shutout victory of the season.
UP NEXT
- The Nittany Lions look for the series sweep on Monday, Oct. 24 at 2 p.m.
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Jeff Kampersal
Q: Even though Josie (goalie) didn't have to face a ton tonight, she came up with a big save on the penalty shot and she's been a "brick wall" for the past few years. What can you say about having her?
A: "For goaltending, obviously I know very little, but I know that sometimes if you're getting a lot of shots and a lot of action, that's the kind of games the goalies like...She had eight shots going into the third period, so there's a lot of time when we'd have possession in the box...so she needs to be mentally sharp and those are probably the toughest games for the goalies to play. But she did. She did do that...like to stop that break away, which was pretty much the first shot of the game. That was awesome...."
Q: Your team dominated based off numbers tonight. What are your thoughts on that collectively and how does that further impact the offense?
A: "Yeah just anytime that we can possess the puck....all four centers can get good leverage. We've worked on faceoffs in terms of like what we want to plan for the faceoff...there's been a few slightly missed passes or a slight deflection but like anytime we can gain possession and start to get on offense [it works]."
Q: I noticed a little bit more of a physical game today. Is that something that organically happens, a product of your opponent, or something that you've been preaching?
A: "I just tried to take away time and space and sometimes if we're gonna make the graphic, aggressive play and take the penalty, I'm okay with that....some of the times we just cause collisions or contacts, which are just stronger in the moment."
Eleri MacKay | D | Sr.
Q: First goal of the season, how does that feel?
A: Pretty good. I tried to not let it dominate my thoughts that I hadn't been able to get one, but focusing on other parts of my game that make me the player I am. Definitely excited to get that first and hopefully not the last.
Q: What does such a big win do to your guys' confidence going forward with this season?
A: Yeah, that was our second win at home. So I think that just again, like you said, it builds our confidence and helps build chemistry. Getting a lot of people out there on the ice, get some more experience and push the momentum here as we kind get farther into the season and having some league opponents coming up.
Q: What do you guys have to do to get your first series sweep of the season?
A: I think we've talked a lot about consistency. We had it written up on the board today, getting a lot of shots throughout the game. And we talked about fast starts but we've kind of moved on to, although we want to start fast, we want to continue that through each period. And I think that helps that we had four lines rolling today and just keep the fresh bodies going out, So, definitely a fast start tomorrow but keep it going through all the periods.
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