UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – After giving up a goal just over a minute in, the Nittany Lions scored four unanswered in the first period enroute to a record-tying 11-2 win over Syracuse on Saturday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- A minute into the game, PSU made a cross zone pass that was intercepted by the Rylee McLeod and she shot and scored five-hole.
- Six minutes later, Tessa Janecke dropped a puck up off to Katelyn Roberts at the point and she made a move to get to right dot and shot and scored.
- Less than two minutes later, Abby Stonehouse forced a turnover on the penalty kill and went down alone and scored.
- Later in the first on a five-minute power play, Tessa Janecke hit Katelyn Roberts with a pass below the dot and shot a one-timer to make it 3-1.
- Under two minutes later, Katelyn Roberts picked up a puck chipped by Danica Maynard and passed it to Mikah Keller who was alone in front and scored.
- Five Minutes into the second period, Celia Wiegand of Syracuse sent a pass to the far post that was deflected by a Nittany Lion into their own net for a Syracuse goal.
- Shortly after that on the penalty kill, Grace Outwater forced a turnover and shot top corner, scoring the Nittany Lions’ second shorthanded goal of the afternoon.
- 46 seconds later, Nicole Hall won a foot race into the offensive zone and picked up a dumped puck, passing it to Kendall Butze at the top of the circle and she found McKenna Walsh on the far post who deflected it in.
- 24 seconds into the third period, Grace Outwater entered the offensive zone and dropped it to Maddy Christian who shot top corner to open the scoring in the third.
- A few minutes later in the period, Katelyn Roberts went into the offensive zone on and curled towards the close post before dropping into the slot for a trailing Maddy Christian who shot it past the Syracuse netminder.
- Five minutes later, Mikah Keller curled towards the top of the slot alone and took a shot to make it 9-2.
- Then, under a minute later, Matilde Fantin got a breakout pass from Shelby Shane and went down and scored pushing the lead to eight.
- With about three minutes to go and on the power play, Taya MacDonald and McKenna Walsh won a puck battle on the boards and passed it to Nicole Hall who put the puck just under the cross bar to score.
GOALTENDERS
- Senior goaltender Katie DeSa made 12 saves in the win. She moves to 12-0-0 on the season.
- Syracuse goaltenders combined for 31 saves, Ava Drabyk made 14 while allowing four goals and Maika Paquin made 17 saves while allowing seven goals.
STATS AND NOTES
- Tessa Janecke had two assists to bring her career total to 101, becoming the first player in program history to reach the milestone.
- The Nittany Lions tied their program record by scoring 11 goals, the last time they did it was against Stonehill, defeating them 11-1 on Oct. 26, 2024.
- PSU had eight different goal scorers for the first time since that game against Stonehill as well.
- Katelyn Roberts had the first four-point game of her career, notching two goals and two assists.
- Roberts tied Tessa Janecke with four power play goals on the season, tying them for second nationally.
- 14 different Nittany Lions recorded at least a point today, the most in a game this season.
- They also notched a season high with 28 combined points.
- McKenna Walsh scored her first goal of the season, bringing her career total to five.
- Kendall Butze had three assists which was the ninth multi-assist game of her career and second game with three or more assists.
- Abby Stonehouse and Grace Outwater each scored on the penalty kill today, bringing PSU’s total for the season to five, the most in the nation.
- Grace Outwater leads all skaters nationally in shorthanded goals this season with two.
- Penn State has scored three power play goals in back-to-back games.
- PSU now has the second-ranked power play in the country, scoring at a 34 percent rate.
- Mikah Keller finished with a +5 on ice rating, the highest of any player on the Nittany Lions in a single game this season.
UP NEXT
- Penn State will hit the road next weekend to finish its first half of conference play, traveling to play RIT in Rochester, N.Y. Friday’s game is set to begin at 6 p.m.