Penn State Women’s Hockey Slaughtered By Cornell 6-1

Story posted January 11, 2022 in CommRadio, Sports by Zach Donaldson

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - For the first time since November 6, 2021, Penn State women’s hockey took the ice at Pegula Ice Arena, although as far as results go, the home ice didn’t seem to matter much.

The Nittany Lions fell at the hands of the Cornell 6-1, with five of the six goals coming in the final two periods. The Nittany Lions fell short in many important categories and suffered one of their worst losses since 2019.

“Habits weren't good, communication wasn't good. And just when it went south for us, it goes south fast,” head coach Jeff Kampersal said. “I think the main factor was, I felt like we were out of shape, which bothers me. So conditioning was an issue and then not ever getting a free, that's usually a big part of our game.”

Both teams started out slow on offense, failing to find any sort of a groove or rhythm. Coming off a shutout of Boston University, Penn State’s defense displayed a lot of the same bend but don’t break mentality.

It was working for the first 10 minutes, as Penn State led in shots 3-1 for most of it. Until the Big Red went on a 5-1 run and Izzy Daniel cashed in on the power-play, putting the game’s first points on the scoreboard.

Down 1-0 entering the second, Penn State responded with a goal off the stick of its leading goal-scorer, Natalie Heising to knot it at a goal apiece.

The stingy defense from both squads would remain, but the tie wouldn’t, as Alexa Davis sent a puck that ricocheted into the back of the net to break it. Cornell began to pick up the pace and things unraveled quickly for Penn State. It was all Big Red from there.

Cornell’s Claudia Yu went top-shelf to follow up Davis’ goal exactly two minutes later, and a pretty feed on the fast break from Gillis Frechette to Lily Delianedis capped off the second period onslaught. The Big Red were up 4-1 entering the final frame of action.

It would be more of the same, as this time Delianedis was on the assisting-end, finding Ashley Messier for the 5-1 lead, and one could barely even blink before Cornell tacked on another goal less than 10 seconds later. Rory Guilday took advantage of a misplay by Penn State off the face-off to bring it to a final score of 6-1.

Penn State would figure to take advantage in this game with the Big Red’s star net-minder Lindsay Browning out, but the sophomore Deanna Fraser filled in and had an outstanding game, only allowing one goal in 25 attempts.

Although the Penn State kept pace with Cornell in the shots department, finishing with 25 to the Big Red’s 30, most weren’t clean looks and endless miscues on both the offensive and defensive ends made things tough for goalkeepers Josie Bothun, Cam Leonard and Annie Spring.

“We need to stick together as a team…” Kampersal said. “I tell them all the time, one of my favorite quotes is from ‘The Tragically Hip,’ a rock band, ‘no one's interested in something you’ve yet to do.’ And we haven't done anything. So we need to show up every day, like we're underdogs and have that mentality.”

The Nittany Lions will aim to get back on track as they’re back on the road, traveling to Rochester, New York to face the Tigers of RIT on Friday, Jan. 14.


Zach Donaldson is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email zach.donaldson1@gmail.com.