No. 12/12 Women's Ice Hockey Begins Series at Union, Friday

HISTORY

Penn State is facing Union for the 17th time in program history. Penn State currently leads the series 9-5-2 with the last meeting occurring on January 6, 2024, when Penn State defeated the Garnet Chargers 6-2.

SCOUTING THE GARNET CHARGERS

Union enters this week with an 2-2-0 record after splitting a two-game series against RIT on October 4-5. Leading the offense is defenseman Maren Friday who has four points on the year off two goals and two assists. In net stands Sophie Matsoukas who’s tallied a GAA of 2.25 and save percentage of .924.

SHORT-HANDED SUCCESS

The Nittany Lions currently lead the nation in short-handed goals with two on the year. Juniors Maddy Christian and Tessa Janecke each have tallied one this season. Prior to Christian's and Janecke's shorties, the last short-handed goal came from Janecke on January 26, 2024 against Lindenwood. Penn State is currently 12-16 on the penalty-kill which sits third in Atlantic Hockey. 

MACDONALD TALLIES FIRST COLLEGIATE POINT

Freshaman Taya MacDonald recorded her first collegiate point against UConn on October 4 which she tallied an assist on a Mya Vaslet goal.

MacDonald is the first freshman to score a point this season and holds the only point among freshman through four games played.

BACK ON THE POWER-PLAY

Penn State found their solution to the power-play on Saturday, October 5 at UConn as three of their four goals in the victory came on the power-play. The goals were their first power-play goals of the season. The Nittany Lions are now 3-15 on the power-play while three players are tied with one power-play goal on the year. 

JANECKE NAMED AHA FORWARD OF THE WEEK

Junior Tessa Janecke was named the Atlantic Hockey America Forward of the Week as the league announced on Monday. The Orangeville, Ill. earned her fifth AHA Forward of the Week honor in her career after she tallied three points in the series against UConn this past week as she fired one goal and two assists. Her one goal came short-handed in Saturday’s 4-2 victory over the Huskies.

The goal tied the game at one in the second period leading the Nittany Lions to a victory over the No. 9 Huskies. She also racked up 27 faceoff wins in the series off 42 attempts.  On the year, Janecke leads the Nittany Lions with six points off two goals and four assists. Janecke currently sits third all time in points with 106 so far in her career at Penn State. 

DOWN GOES NO. 9!

Penn State enters this weeks series with Union after a split series with No. 9/9 UConn this past week. The Nittany Lions narrowly fell in the first game 3-2 as Penn State took an early advantage 2-0 but UConn fired back three straight goals in the final frame to take the first game. The Nittany Lions responded the following day going 3-5 on the power-play and only allowing the Huskies to score two power-play goals.

Tessa Janecke tallied her first short-handed goal of the year and sixth of her career in the victory while goalie Katie DeSa recorded 27 saves on 29 shots attempted to pick up her second win of the season in net. Penn State had four different goal scorers in the 4-2 victory over the No. 9 Huskies. The was also thhe first win over UConn in program history. It was the first win over a top 10 team for Penn State since they defeated then No. 5/5 Northeastern on September 24, 2023.