No. 11 Penn State women’s hockey shows resilience in victory over Brown

Story posted November 14, 2022 in CommRadio, Sports by Kyle Schmidt

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State edged Brown 4-2 after losing a  2-0 lead.

The Nittany Lions defeated the Bears with ease Sunday night, 3-0, and shut them out again on Monday through two periods. The shutout came to a halt after a goal by Brown forward Jade Iginla just minutes into the third period.

Penn State started the game strong, scoring two goals in the first period and only allowing three shots in the second. The Nittany Lions looked much slower in the third period and held on to a dangerous 2-1 lead.

“I think we learned if we go down that we don’t panic,” coach Jeff Kampersal said.  “We know that we have enough depth and energy to reattack.”

The third period saw Brown go heavy on the attack. The game was tied up with 3:22 remaining after a goal by India McDadi. 

The Nittany Lions applied pressure in the final three minutes but goaltender Kaley Doyle stopped an amazing 29-of-32 shots. 

On the other end, Josie Bothun was not as busy as Doyle, but was just as sharp, stopping 18-of-20 shots. A few game changing saves helped her team.

Julie Gough was the savior for the Nittany Lions, finally sneaking one past Doyle with 1:09 remaining in the game on a perfect pass from Kiara Zanon.

“We talk about getting pucks on net,” said Gough. “Anytime we get the puck on our stick, we look at the net.”

Penn State played strong defense and kept the puck out of Bothun’s crease in the final minutes.  This led to the empty-net goal from Zanon that clinched the Penn State victory. 

The special teams for Penn State stood out.  On the offensive side, Penn State went 1-of-3 on the power play, scoring in the first period. 

Defensively, the blue and white’s penalty kill was perfect. The Bears missed on all three power plays and couldn’t get a shot on their first opportunity. 

“Today was cool,” said Gough. “I give a lot of people credit who was out there. I do my thing in the middle and I let them be cool on the outside.”

Penn State is now ranked No. 11 in the country and has a big matchup coming up this week, traveling to No. 8 Yale on Friday.

This will be a huge game for the Nittany Lions coming off a gritty performance in Pegula Ice Arena.  The team will look to build off this victory and hope to continue the win streak.

Kyle Schmidt is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email kyle.schmidt1025@gmail.com.