Series Preview: Penn State Women’s Hockey vs. Colgate
The No. 12 ranked Penn State is entering its next series at 2-2-0 and is set to face the Colgate University Raiders at Pegula Ice Arena starting Friday, Oct. 7. Colgate enters the series as the No. 6 ranked team with a record of 3-0-0.
Penn State is coming off of a weekend where they went 1-1-0 with a 4-0 loss to Minnesota Duluth and a 4-2 win over St. Lawrence. Junior goaltender Josie Bothun stopped 30-of-34 shots which is her season high up to this point, against the UMD Bulldogs and 27-of-29 shots against the St. Lawrence Saints.
Bothun enters this series against the Colgate Raiders with a 3.17 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage. On the offensive side, one player that emerged for the Nittany Lions in upstate New York was Courtney Correia.
The fifth-year transfer tallied her first career hat trick against the Saints leading Penn State to its second victory of the season. Correia was awarded CHA forward of the week and will be looking to stay on the scoresheet against Colgate starting on Friday.
The Colgate Raiders have only faced CHA opponents thus far, and all of their victories have been shutouts, as they have yet to concede a single goal this season. The Nittany Lions will be seeking to change that quickly, especially playing at home with The Roar Zone student section, who will be making a lot of noise all game long.
If Penn State wants to win this game, the Nittany Lions are going to have to step up defensively. Look for them to be way more aggressive when it comes to battles in front of the net because, especially against Colgate, the Nittany Lions can’t afford for Bothun to be screened from the puck.
On the offensive side, Penn State has to take shots on net and look for rebound opportunities. Junior forward and captain Kiara Zanon also assisted on two of the three goals by Courtney Correia and is still an extremely efficient offensive threat. Look out for when the puck is on her stick in this series.
A lot of the time this season, Penn State has taken costly penalties that have ruined momentum. If the Nittany Lions want to be competitive against the Raiders, they have to stay out of the penalty box and have five players on the ice at all times.
This is the seventh meeting all-time between these two sides, with the last meeting being in the 2018-19 season, where Penn State won that game 4-2.
The Nittany Lions seek to repeat history and put a dent into Colgate’s perfect start to the season.
Christopher Machado is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email cvm6238@psu.edu.
