Penn State Offense Erupts for 5 Goals in 3rd Period to top Lindenwood
Lions collided Friday night as Penn State took down Lindenwood 5-3.
Penn State defeated a team it has played every year since its first season as a varsity program in 2012.
With their win tonight, the Nittany Lions have gone 15 straight games without losing to Lindenwood and are 12-0-3 during this stretch.
Despite the recent dominance, Penn State was challenged early when Lindenwood’s Kaitlin Finnegan broke the ice and put her squad up 1-0 in the first period.
Penn State continued to put the pressure on the Lions, but it was Lindenwood who grabbed the second goal. This time it was junior forward Gigi Pora who pounced on a loose puck and put it past Penn State goaltender Josie Bothun.
The Nittany Lions continued to fire plenty of shots on Lindenwood goaltender Julia Maguire, but could not capitalize through two periods despite outshooting Lindenwood 31-13 after the second frame.
Penn State began its comeback 57 seconds into the third when junior forward Julie Gough finally got the Nittany Lions on the board scoring in her sixth straight game.
The Nittany Lion offense proceeded to explode, scoring two more goals separated by about a minute.
The game-tying goal came from junior forward Alyssa Machado and the go-ahead goal was fired from the stick of junior defenseman Mallory Uihlein.
Penn State head coach Jeff Kampersal talked about how the offense was finally able to find its touch in the third period.
“There were plays on the table that were there in the first and second period, Kampersal said. “It’s a matter if they're going to be like alpha and do it, and they decided to come out and do it.”
Penn State tallied its fourth unanswered goal when sophomore forward Kiara Zanon finished a two-on-none short-handed chance off a feed from senior forward Natalie Heising.
“That was a pretty fun goal,” Heising said. “We’ve been wanting a short-handed one this whole season, so I’m glad we had that.”
Lindenwood refused to go away as forward Val Caldwell cut the Penn State lead to one goal with just under six minutes to play in the third period.
The play had a certain edge towards the end of the third period with plenty of words exchanged between whistles.
“The only way to respond is to win and score goals,” Kampersal said on the chippy play at the end of the game.
Senior defenseman Izzy Heminger skated in her 100th game tonight and received high praise from her captain Heising.
“I love Izzy, she’s such a backbone to this team, she brings so much character and is very well respected,” Heising said.
Heminger assisted Machado’s game-tying goal during the early third-period offensive explosion.
Kampersal touched on what the team needs to do to have success tomorrow and for the rest of the season.
“In order to be a great team we need to be consistent,” Kampersal said. “We’re still searching for that, we’re still searching for identity.”
Maclain Young is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email macyoung21@gmail.com.
