No. 6 Penn State women’s hockey (15-0-0, 11-0-0 AHA) got the better of RIT (8-9-0, 4-5-0 AHA) with a 5-3 win to stay undefeated on Friday night.

Two shorthanded goals in the first period led the way for the Nittany Lions to cruise to another conference win. They sit at 11-0 halfway through conference play.

How It Happened

Penn State captain Tessa Janecke won the faceoff to get the game started. It took under two minutes for the Nittany Lions to get their first power play opportunity, as RIT’s Cassie Barnes was sent to the box early for interference.

Despite generating five shots on the power play, Penn State was kept off the scoreboard, and RIT got the first penalty kill of the game.

It took almost nine entire minutes for RIT to get its first shot on goal, but the game remained scoreless for nearly the whole first half of the opening period. That was until Janecke forced a turnover in the offensive zone and fed Abby Stonehouse right in front of the net to open up scoring.

Tessa’s forecheck forces a turnover and Abby finishes it!#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/XkOhmNk7SK

— Penn State Women’s Hockey (@PennStateWHKY) November 21, 2025

Shortly after, Barnes would head to the box again, this time for hooking, giving the Nittany Lions another power play chance.

Penn State would capitalize on the man-advantage this time. Leah Stecker skated around several defenders and scored the second goal of the game off of assists by Grace Outwater and Matilde Fantin.

Mati wins the draw and Leah does the rest for our second! #WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/JRQvPDh81y

— Penn State Women’s Hockey (@PennStateWHKY) November 21, 2025

The Tigers would respond nicely, getting several shots on net and getting their first power play chance after McKenna Walsh was called for slashing. It would soon be 5-on-3, as Mya Vaslet committed a tripping penalty.

RIT would make the most of their power play chances, scoring two goals less than a minute apart to make the Nittany Lions pay. Emma Pickering scored both goals.

Janecke was the next Nittany Lion to commit a penalty. The penalty kill for Penn State fared much better this time, however, scoring two short-handed goals to give the away team the lead again. Maddy Christian scored the first goal, followed by Vaslet.

Maddy scores her second shorty of the season with a beauty!#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/Sw3UrfggEs

— Penn State Women’s Hockey (@PennStateWHKY) November 21, 2025

Mya gets her first of the year and our second shorthanded goal of the game! #WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/i1EcUdx1FV

— Penn State Women’s Hockey (@PennStateWHKY) November 21, 2025

Penn State would also kill the penalty and went into the locker room up 4-2 after an eventful first frame.

After a slower start to the period, Janecke would extend the Nittany Lion lead to three with a rocket past RIT goalie Sophia Bellinia nine minutes into the second.

Tessa with a full head of steam makes it 5-2 pic.twitter.com/1D67bBKqH7

— Penn State Women’s Hockey (@PennStateWHKY) November 22, 2025

Penn State would get its third power play chance of the game following an RIT interference penalty. The Tigers would burn through their timeout after the call. Despite plenty of chances, the Nittany Lions’ penalty would be killed.

Both teams would exchange opportunities, but there would be no changes to the scoreboard for the rest of the middle period.

An uneventful start to the third period would follow. Both goalies shut the door on every shot that came their way. 13 minutes into the final period, Stonehouse and RIT’s Laura Dyke would both be called for penalties on the same play. Katelyn Roberts would also head to the box just 25 seconds after.

RIT would score its third power play of the game just a minute into the Roberts penalty, shortening the Nittany Lion lead to two. Penn State would manage to kill off the other penalty.

Katie DeSa wouldn’t allow another goal the rest of the way, and the Nittany Lions would hold on to their lead and win 5-3.

Takeaways

• The Nittany Lion offense was extremely sharp, outshooting the Tigers 47-20.
• A pretty undisciplined game from the Nittany Lions, they committed 4 penalties and gave up a goal on three of them.
• The two shorthanded goals really decided this one. They gave Penn State all the momentum and a two-goal lead that RIT would never recover from.

What’s Next?

Penn State women’s hockey will finish its series with RIT on Saturday, November 22. The game will take place at the Gene Polisseni Center and is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. You can stream the game on FloHockey.