UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- Make it five straight wins for No. 11/11 Penn State as they defeated Mercyhurst 4-1 on Friday afternoon at Pegula Ice Arena.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Mercyhurst was able to get on the scoreboard first with 7:42 remaining in the first frame off a goal by Liliane Perrault to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead.
- Two minutes late, Courtney Correia would even the score up at 1-1 with a goal from feeds by Olivia Wallin and Eleri MacKay.
- MacKay would score a goal of her own with 2:58 remaining in the opening period off assists by Correia and Wallin to give the Nittany Lions a 2-1 lead.
- Penn State added two more goals in the second period, both on the power-play coming from Julie Gough (13:15) and Tessa Janecke (1:45) to secure the 4-1 victory.
GOALTENDERS
- Josie Bothun made 21 saves on 22 shots attempted for her seventh win of the season.
STATS AND NOTES
- The Nittany Lions upped their win streak to five.
- Courtney Correia tallied her third multi-point game of the season.
- Correia tied a CHA single-game high in faceoff wins this season with 17.
- Tessa Janecke leads the team with 10 goals on the year which leads all freshman in the country.
- Penn State went 2-4 overall on the power-play.
- The Nittany Lions are on top of the CHA with six points and three conference victories.
UP NEXT
- The Nittany Lions return to action on Saturday, Nov. 5 when they look for the series sweep of Mercyhurst at 1 p.m.
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Jeff Kampersal
Q: Coach the game got a lot more physical today, how did the team adjust and handle that offensively?
A: Yeah, I think now that we're into CHA play, we played Lindenwood last week and that was very physical and today was physical. I felt like the first 10 minutes were a little bit shaky, and then after that I thought we played really well. We were definitely ready to play, I don't know if we were necessarily ready for the physicality. But once we started reversing charges using our speed and putting pressure on their defense then it got a lot better for us.
Q: Coach, to actually go down one and then Courtney to tie it up at the end of the first, do you think that sort of shifted the momentum of the game?
A: Yeah, absolutely. She's a great player, and she's got a lot of energy so the two goals right in a row were definitely momentum changing. And then I thought we had control after that.
Q: Two and four on power plays today, how important was that coming in and how do you feel those opportunities contribute to that win directly?
A: Yeah, I mean we spend time on it. We haven't spent a ton of time, all year and things have switched around a little bit. But we spent some good time this week, and it's just a matter of moving the puck quickly and attacking the net. All three units are solid and put pressure on and so we're happy to see that.
Q: Coach, there were only five shots in the third period. Was it an emphasis to park the bus?
A: We wanted to keep our foot on the pedal. We are a good defensive team, so the offense comes from the back and pinning, breaking out, and letting our forwards do their thing. But we always try to stay shut down as much as possible. And then again, if we did make a couple of mistakes out there, we didn't give up any quality chances, but we gave up a few and Josie made big saves when we needed her.
Q: Strong win today, what's the message going into tomorrow's game?
A: The message, again in our league, is always when you lose the fist game, there's inherently a little letdown for the next day. The team who loses usually comes out ready to go so we have to expect Mercyhurst push in that first period. But we need to match, surpass and be ready to go from the puck job.
Q: Coach, what was the message on the bench after giving up that first goal early in the first period?
A: Yeah, it was a random goal. It was actually kind of almost a carbon copy of our goal against them in the playoffs last year. It was just the scram and we went off a skate, so there was no stress, we were in good shape. Our players have focused on being composed and knowing that if they're up a couple or down a couple, then they're gonna stay consistent and play good hockey and habits. It happened early, and again like Courtney came back and gotta get us going offensively with that nice shot. Then that led to another goal right after it was a sick blast, as well.
Q: Coach, what do you think about Courtney's play this year in these last two games in particular.
A: We asked Court to come in for one, being a veteran, playing a lot of games, and being like a star player before she got here. We asked her to play wing and we're trying to find the right chemistry and she plays well there. We asked her to play the middle as of a few games ago and just jump right in there, and I'm impressed with her offense, but we kind of expected that. In terms of defense, it's just jumping in there and playing a good brand of d-zone hockey as a center winning draws. After the second period she was around 70%. I don't know how she finished the game, but that's a big part of why we put her in there knowing she's going to win faceoffs most of the time and get possession where we can do our thing.
Q: Was there a decision putting her in the majority of the face offs this game?
A: No, I just think it was trying to find chemistry among the group. We know that Kiara, Courtney, Mya, Tessa, and a few others like Maddy Christian could jump in there and play center. So generally, when these players come from their club teams, they all play center. When you have a collection of talented hockey players, like someone needs to play the wing, and someone's going to take the job.
Q: How important do you think special teams will be, especially after this game where there's a lot of success?
A: Hugely important. You never know in our league how the game is going to be called, but going forward, power plays, and taking advantage of those opportunities is monumental.
Courtney Correia | F | Sr.
Q: Walk us through what you saw on your first goal in the first period.
A: It was a great play all around with the pin by Ell (Lyndie Lobdell) in the middle and then Liv (Olivia Wallin) tied up and then just pulled it off the wall and I took a quick shot. It kind of started all the way from the defense, a good all-around play.
Q: What did you see on your assists?
A: I just tried to beat them on the icing and then saw a little blur of gray to my left. I tried to throw it into the net and then l saw Liv (Olivia Wallin) had a great screen. Once again, just an all-around great play.
Q: Could you talk about your time with this team so far. What makes them special during your first year here?
A: In my first week, I realized that everyone has bought in from the top-down. You can see that everyone just wants to win, and those kinds of things stem from the little things that you do on the ice, those are going to drive championship habits. Buying in from the top down has really helped us do well this season.
Q: How important is it when Josie Bothun is playing a strong game?
A: her being just a solid goalie all-around, makes it a lot easier for us. She steps up in times when we need her and just kind of holds down the fort. We all kind of thrive off that energy. You can see that throughout the game too.
Q: You have four goals and your last two games, what's sort of been the key to finding opportunities?
A: Communication has been key. As a line and as a team. There's going to be a lot of shifts and changes in lines. Being able to communicate with your line throughout the week, but also during the games has been important. One thing that our line has focused on is just going out there, having fun, and enjoying what we're doing. At the end of the day, that's why we play hockey and that's kind of led to our success.
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