Penn State Takes Game One Against Lindenwood
The Penn State Nittany Lions women’s ice hockey team welcomed the Lindenwood Lions to Happy Valley for the first game of a two game series Friday night.
The Nittany Lions came away from the first game of the series with a 3-0 win on the back of junior goaltender, Celine Whitlinger.
“It was just great to get the shutout and win, I think our team really needed it coming back home,” said Whitlinger, who posted 21 saves.
After a level first period, the Nittany Lions first line broke the scoreless game halfway though the second period.
“I think our team was really looking for some energy, we talked about how we needed to get some more energy on the bench,” said Laura Bowman.
The Nittany Lions posted the first goal of the night when Caitlin Reilly fed a wide-open Bowman in the slot who stuffed it in the Lindenwood net.
“It was nice to get a team goal like that,” said Bowman. “I think that’s what we needed to boost our energy and get rolling.”
“The goal was to keep working,” said Penn State head coach Josh Brandwene at the end of the second period. “Moving our feet when we have open ice, and making good decisions when it was the appropriate time to make good decisions.”
Penn State tallied their second and third goals against the Lions in a 60-second span halfway through the third period.
Hannah Bramm put in the first of the two goals on a wild scrum in front of the net. Bramm was able to slam the puck past goalie Nicole Hensley, who was struggling to regain position after receiving a plethora of shots from Penn State.
38 seconds later, the Nittany Lions captain, Shannon Yoxheimer converted on a centering pass from Bowman to give Penn State a comfortable 3-0 lead.
Whitlinger held strong in the net while the Nittany Lions coasted to the win late in the third period.
“It was a gutty effort from us tonight, we battled hard, and we battled through some adversity,” said Brandwene. “I’m really proud of the way we gathered ourselves.”
The Nittany Lions closed the series record gap with the victory, which is now 5-3-1 in favor of Lindenwood.
Bowman said, “I’m really proud of everyone and how they came back when things weren’t going really well, we stuck to it.”
Trey Cochran is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email mjc5789@psu.edu.
