No. 6 Penn State women’s hockey (14-0, 10-0 AHA) took care of business against Syracuse (6-9, 4-4-1 AHA) 11-2 at Pegula Ice Arena Saturday afternoon.

Katelyn Roberts led the way for the Nittany Lions with a three-point first period en route to an 18-goal weekend and sweep over the Orange.

How It Happened

Syracuse won the opening draw and got the game started. It only took 1:17 for the Orange to get on the board. After a defensive zone turnover by Tessa Janecke, the puck landed on the tape of Syracuse’s Ryle McLeod. She skated down the left side and let go of a soft wrister from the face-off circle, beating Katie DeSa to give Syracuse the early 1-0 lead.

Just over six minutes into the game, Grace Outwater fed Mikah Keller a dime, but her shot was denied by Orange goalie Ava Drabyk. Sophie Morrow generated another good scoring chance seconds later, but was also turned aside by Drabyk. At the 7:29 mark of the first period, Janecke fed Katelyn Roberts from the point, and she skated the puck down to the right face-off circle, let go of a wrister with some heat on it, and beat Drabyk gloveside to tie the game at 1-1.

Taya McDonald was assessed a minor penalty for holding at 8:42 into the opening period. After a save by DeSa, the puck kicked along the boards, Abby Stonehouse stripped the puck from the Syracuse skater and found herself in a short-handed breakaway situation. Stonehouse aimed for the top-right corner of the net and beat Drabyk over the glove to give the Nittany Lions their first lead of the game at 2-1. Penn State would go on to kill the remaining 1:38 of the Syracuse man advantage.

Abby's second pickpocket goal in as many games#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/ociZU5PzLI

— Penn State Women’s Hockey (@PennStateWHKY) November 15, 2025

The Orange were given another power play in the period with 8:24 to go after McKenna Walsh was handed a two-minute minor for slashing. Syracuse was unable to generate anything on the power play, not even registering a shot on goal. Minutes later, Syracuse goal scorer McLeod was sent to the box after tripping Janecke near center ice. Much like the second Syracuse power play, Penn State was unable to generate any looks while being a man up.

Things got heated with 2:56 remaining in the period. Nicole Hall and Charlotte Hallett got tangled up and fell to the ground. Hallett punched Hall in the face, resulting in a five-minute major and game misconduct, sending the Nittany Lions back to the power play. It took only 42 seconds for the Nittany Lions to respond with a punch of their own, in the form of a power play goal off the stick of Roberts, making it 3-1.

With 37 seconds to go in the period and the Nittany Lions still on the man advantage, Roberts flipped a backhand pass to Keller right in front of the net, and she beat Drabyk to make it 4-1 before the conclusion of the first period.

Mikah adds one more to push the lead before we head into the break#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/yXYFvPZhN6

— Penn State Women’s Hockey (@PennStateWHKY) November 15, 2025

In the opening minutes of the second period, a two-minute minor penalty was assessed to Danica Maynard for roughing. 54 seconds into the penalty kill, Grace Tullock and Janecke were both sent to the box, sending the game to a 5-on-3 in favor of Syracuse. Just 46 seconds into the 5-on-3, Celia Wiegland put one past DeSa to make it a 4-2 game.

After the goal and then killing off Janecke’s penalty, the Nittany Lions still found themselves shorthanded. Outwater stripped the puck off Syracuse’s Emma Gnade at the blue line and took the puck straight towards the net, firing a shot past Orange backup goalie Maika Paquin 7:29 into the middle period, extending the lead to 5-2.

46 seconds later, Hall found the cutting Walsh right outside the goalie’s crease, and she made no mistake, tapping home the easy goal to make 6-2 with 8:15 to go in the second period.

Things would pick back up 24 seconds into the third period when Maddy Christian received a drop-back pass from Outwater and fired a wrister over the blocker of Paquin, beating her to make it a 7-2 game. Christian would net her second goal of the game 4:02 into the third period off a feed from Roberts, extending the Nittany Lion lead to 8-2.

8:38 into the period, Keller made a move to avoid the Syracuse defender and ripped a shot five-hole to beat Paquin, making it 9-2. 59 seconds after that, Matilde Fantin snuck one past Paquin to make it an eight-goal lead for the Nittany Lions. With 3:02 to go in regulation, Hall let go of a shot that rang off the post, crossbar, and then into the back of the net for a Penn State goal. The final three minutes of the period would wind down without any more goals, and Penn State let the clock run out on its dominant 11-2 performance.

Takeaways

• Roberts led the way offensively for the Nittany Lions, carrying the bulk of the first period offense with two goals and an assist, also adding a second assist in the third period.
• Penn State cleaned up and went 2-2 on the power play after going 2-7 on the man advantage in the first matchup of the series.
• Despite giving up a goal on the first shot of the game — her first goal allowed in 22 days — DeSa locked in and made all the necessary saves to lead the Nittany Lions to their win.

What’s Next?

Penn State women’s hockey will hit the ice against RIT at 6 p.m. on Friday, November 21, at the Gene Polisseni Center in Rochester, New York. The game’s broadcasting network is still TBA.