Game Preview: Penn State Women’s Hockey vs. Boston College

Story posted October 14, 2022 in CommRadio, Sports by Justin Ciavolella

The back-end of two straight series against top-15 ranked opponents has Penn State traveling to Chestnut Hill to take on its fifth ranked opponent of the season, Boston College.

Coming off of a series against No. 6 Colgate, which saw the Raiders take both games, the Nittany Lions record has dropped to 2-4 overall and 1-4 versus ranked opponents.

It was nearly deja vu for the blue and white as the Raiders netted both game-winning goals in the final minute of action.

While two losses is never how a team draws it up, Jeff Kampersal’s squad stayed competitive for all 120 minutes at Pegula Ice Arena in part due to the goaltending of Josie Bothun.

Bothun, who is coming off of a season where she posted program records with 18 wins and nine shutouts, allowed five goals on 68 shots against Colgate. It took a season-high 37 saves in the finale to keep the Raiders to just two goals.

The Minnesota naitve improved her save percentage to .911 and lowered her goals against average to 2.94 on the season. Her statistics are starting to mirror last season’s after being inflated as she allowed five goals in the second game of the opening series against Wisconsin.

The junior netfinder will look to keep her rhythm going as she faces an Eagle offense that is averaging three goals per game on 33 shots per game.

Leading the way for Boston College is Hannah Bilka. The Texas native is pacing the team with three goals and seven points in her senior season. Bilka recorded her 40th career goal in the Eagles’ as part of a two-goal and three-assists weekend that earned her Hockey East Player of the Week.

But Bilka is not alone, as Boston College has three other multi-goal scorers in Abby Newhook, Kate Ham and Gaby Roy. This quartet of scorers has allowed the Eagles to score four goals in three of their contests thus far.

It has been all-or-nothing for this offense as when it did not record four goals, it was shutout and handed its only loss by No. 7 Quinnipiac.

While the Eagles have been flying high on offense, the Nittany Lions have been on the prowl for more scoring.

Penn State scored a total of three goals in their last series against Colgate, and are averaging two goals per game this season and just one goal per game in losses.

Colgate went into that previous series outscoring opponents 10-0 over the first three games of its season, but it was freshman Katelyn Roberts who became the first to light the lamp against the Raiders.

Roberts was one of three doning the blue and white to score their first goals of the season as Lyndie Lobdell and Mya Vaslet joined her.

Lobdell earned CHA Defensive Player of the Week as she became the first Nittany Lion defenseman to find the back of the net this season.

If Lobdell and others can continue to create offense opportunities, it could assist leading point-getters Tessa Janecke and Kiara Zanon in helping this offense find more consistency.

Trying to put an end to that before it starts will be Abigail Levy. Levy has carved out the starting goaltender role for coach Katie Crowley, who has elected to use Levy on three of four occasions.

The graduate student was a semifinalist for the 2022 National Goaltender of the Year Award, and has started this season off by allowing six goals on 94 shots for a .936 save percentage.

Levy made 69 saves over the course of two games when these two programs faced off for the first time a season ago. Boston College took both games in 2-1 fashion, one being in overtime, at Pegula Ice Arena.

Puck-drop is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday at Conte Forum with the finale set to begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

 

Justin Ciavolella is a second-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jtc5751@psu.edu.