Penn State women’s hockey (19-8-2, 9-1-1 CHA) handled Lindenwood (3-23-0, 3-9-0 CHA) 5-1 at Pegula Ice Arena Friday evening.

Jeff Kampersal’s group notched two first-period goals courtesy of Eleri MacKay and Olivia Wallin to capture a commanding 2-0 lead early. From there, the Nittany Lions compiled three more scores on 35 total shots en route to a start-to-finish display of dominance.

How It Happened

Directly off the faceoff, Penn State fired two shots from Karley Garcia and Rene Gangarosa, giving the Nittany Lions an early edge in the zone. The momentum carried Kampersol’s unit out to an early, 9-2 attempt advantage on net, leading to plenty of scoring opportunities out of the gate.

With 11:10 remaining in the first period, Lindenwood picked up a two-minute penalty for roughing, which put the Nittany Lions’ lethal power play unit on attack. 12 seconds later, Penn State struck first thanks to Eleri MacKay, with assists from Courtney Correia and Gangarosa.

After the man-up advantage for Penn State, the offense remained hot by rattling off 12 unanswered shots, resulting in another goal with just under eight minutes to go in the frame. Oliva Wallin put it past opposing goaltender Julia Maguire to establish a controlling two-score advantage.

Penn State continued to keep the puck within the offensive zone for prolonged periods but failed to score another goal within the opening 20 minutes. On the other hand, Lindenwood returned from the first intermission with its first semblance of offensive prowess, categorized by three consecutive shots in the opening two minutes of play.

The offensive control stalled, however, when Penn State rallied behind two power plays caused by Lindenwood from a pair of tripping and hooking calls. Kampersol’s red-hot penalty unit went cold, despite picking up seven shots across the four-minute stretch.

Although the Nittany Lions continued to knock on the door of extending the lead during Lindenwood’s undisciplined span, Penn State forward Julie Gough notched another score, bringing the lead to a 3-0 margin in favor of the home squad.

The third period provided similar fireworks, as MacKay totaled an early powerplay goal for her second score of the night, and Katelyn Roberts fired and converted another strike for a 5-0 edge. Penn State let its foot off the gas late and surrendered its first blunder of the matchup with a late goal from Lindenwood’s Morgan Neitzke with less than two minutes to go.

Ultimately, Penn State held strong down the stretch, finishing off the in-conference bout with a 5-1 victory over the Lions.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will face Lindenwood for the second matchup of a two-game series on Saturday, January 28 at Pegula Ice Arena. Puck drop is set for 2 p.m.