No. 12 Women's Hockey Downs Mercyhurst, 4-2 to Open SeriesNo. 12 Women's Hockey Downs Mercyhurst, 4-2 to Open Series

No. 12 Women's Hockey Downs Mercyhurst, 4-2 to Open Series

Penn State has won the last five straight games against the Lakers

Box Score

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.–The No. 12 Penn State women’s ice hockey team (14-4-1, 7-0-0 AHA) took the first game over Mercyhurst (7-10-1, 4-3-0 AHA) with a 4-2 victory on Friday afternoon. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • After a scoreless first period, Maddy Christian flew across the ice from the opposite end as she scored the opening goal with 7:11 left in the second period. 
  • Tessa Janecke fed the puck to Christian from the right side and then Christian flicked it past the netminder to put the Nittany Lions ahead 2-0 with 4:05 left in the second frame. 
  • Passes from Kylee Mahoney and Sofia Nuutinen from the offensive boards led Makayla Javier to score a goal in front of the goalie to narrow the Penn State lead to 2-1 with 3:03 remaining in the frame. 
  • Mercyhurst opened the third period with a power-play goal off the stick of Julia Schalin as she received the puck from Vanessa Upson on the left side and fired her shot which slid past the goalie to even the score at 2-2 with 19:19 left in the frame.
  • With 16:00 left in the period, a pair of passes from the neutral zone by Leah Stecker and Brianna Brooks landed in the stick of Grace Outwater. She they fired a goal from the bottom left circle to put Penn State ahead 3-2.
  • Penn State won the faceoff in the defensive zone as Janecke fired the puck from the opposite end of the ice and the puck slid into the net to give the Nittany Lions the 4-2 lead and victory with 2:03 left in the frame. 

GOALTENDERS

  • Junior Katie DeSa made 35 saves on 37 shots attempted at her. Her record improves to 11-4-0 this year. 
  • Mercyhurst goalie Magdalena Luggin registered 18 saves on 22 shots. Her record drops to 2-6-0 on the year.

STATS AND NOTES

  • Janecke recorded her 20th three-point or more game of her career with a goal and two assists. She now has 128 points in her career, which sits nine behind the all-time points leader in Natalie Heising, with 137. 
  • The Nittany Lions are now 7-0-0 in Atlantic Hockey America play, which is the best record of seven games in conference play in program history. 
  • This is the fifth straight win against Mercyhurst in program history. 
  • Christian registered her third multi-goal game of her career. Each of her multi-goal games in her career has come this season. 
  • Penn State was outshot for the first time this season 37-22. 
  • The Nittany Lions are now 12-3-0 when they score first in a game. 

UP NEXT

  • Penn State looks for the sweep of the Lakers on Saturday, December 7 at 1 p.m.