Penn State Takes Early Series Lead over Lindenwood with 4-1 Win
What looked like a very close game through the first period on Friday, blew open pretty quickly in the first couple minutes of the second period. The Penn State women’s hockey team defeated Lindenwood 4-1 in their first matchup of the playoff series.
After a record-setting year for the Penn State Women’s Hockey team totaling 24 wins, this team dominated on Friday like they have all season. Lindenwood came into this game with just five wins on the year, and that showed during their three-goal loss against the Nittany Lions.
Even though there wasn’t much action in the first period of play Penn State ended the period leading 10-5 in shots. Starting fast like they have all season long. Their defense was stifling throughout the contest making it hard for Lindenwood to score.
Penn State got their scoring started when Senior forward Julie Gough scored on a two-on-one fast break, where freshman forward Tessa Janeke set her up perfectly. This goal only led to more for Penn State whose chemistry on offense in the second and third periods was on point.
Penn State then went on to score back-to-back goals in less than two minutes. The second score of the day for the Nittany Lions came from junior forward Olivia Wallin who was assisted by graduate student Courtney Correia.
The third goal came from sophomore forward Mya Vaslet who was another impact player that helped Penn State capture their first win of the CHA Tournament. From this moment on, Penn State controlled the game and proved to be the better team on every part of the ice.
Junior goaltender Josie Bothun was amazing for the Nittany Lions in game one, only allowing one score which came on a goal from Lindenwood by freshman forward Olivia Grabianowski right before the end of the second period. Penn State took over the entire third period, limiting Lindenwood to very few opportunities and outshooting them 46-19 by the end of regulation.
Penn State’s final goal came early in the third period on an amazing play by Graduate Student Forward Eleri McKay who made the play of the day scoring while colliding with the Lindenwood goaltender.
The Nittany Lions will play another game against Lindenwood Saturday at 12:30 looking to advance to the CHA Tournament Finals. There will be a final matchup on Sunday if Lindenwood beats Penn State to even the series..
Sam Kirk is a junior Broadcast Journalism major at Penn State. To contact him email sjk6325@psu.edu.
