Penn State Women’s Hockey Preview: RIT
The final weekend of CHA action is here and with it comes a matchup between Penn State and RIT at Pegula Ice Arena.
The Nittany Lions come into the series with an overall record of 17-9-4, with a 7-3-2 record in CHA play. The Tigers have not been as fortunate this season coming into the weekend with an overall 1-25-3 record and a 1-11-2 record in conference play.
The blue and white have won its last three contests, including a sweep against LIU this past weekend. They have outscored its opponents 17-0 over that stretch.
At the center of this streak is sophomore goalie Josie Bothun. Bothun won her seventh CHA Goaltender of the Week award for her efforts against LIU and Cornell last week.
Bothun posted a shutout on Saturday night after being pulled early in the 10-0 victory on Friday afternoon.
Bothun has been a driving force for the Nittany Lions this season. The Wyoming, Minnesota, native has eight shutouts this season, which is a new program record and good for second in the NCAA. She posts a goals-against-average of 1.66 and a .925 save percentage in 30 games.
Penn State’s offense got going on Friday afternoon following a hat trick by sophomore Oliva Wallin, doubling her season output to six goals. She was one of the eight scorers for Penn State.
Natalie Heising had the go-ahead goal on Saturday afternoon for the Nittany Lions. The fifth-year senior leads the team with 19 goals, which ties a program record.
The Tigers recorded their first win of the season over the weekend. Following a tie on Friday evening, the Tigers came to play in their win over Lindenwood.
It was the 33-save effort from freshman goalie Sarah Coe that propelled the Tigers to a 3-1 victory in Game 2. Her performance led her to be named the CHA Rookie of the Week.
Emma Roland, the sophomore forward, scored a goal in both games to lead the way for the Tigers' offense. Her assist in Game 1 led to the game-tying goal off the stick of Athena Vasdani.
Roland leads the team with nine goals, six assists and 15 points. Vasdani is second on the team with 10 points and is tied for the lead with six assists.
This weekend will be the second series between these two teams following a series last month. The Nittany Lions defeated the Tigers in the first game, and the two teams tied the second matchup.
Two familiar faces led the way for the blue and white in their victory. Heising had two goals, while Bothun stopped at 19 shots that came her way.
The following day, a different goalie stole the show. Sarah Coe stopped 35 of the Nittany Lions’ 37 shots to keep the Tigers in the game. When Coe was pulled for an extra attacker late in the game, Abby Davies, the senior forward, scored the game-tying goal.
Coe will look to slow down the Nittany Lions again as the Nittany Lions will look to improve upon their winning streak. The blue and white will look to throw a plethora of shots on net and hope a few can sneak by.
RIT will look to challenge Bothun this weekend, who did make some quality saves against LIU, but was not challenged too often. Late in the season, fatigue could become a factor for the goaltender who has appeared in every Nittany Lion game this season.
Penn State will look to maintain their second-place ranking heading into the CHA tournament by securing points against a struggling RIT team.
The series begins with puck drop set for 2 p.m. on Friday. The two clubs will be back on the ice for a 1 p.m. start on Saturday.
Justin Ciavolella is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jtc5751@psu.edu.
