No. 4 Penn State women’s hockey (19-3, 13-0 AHA) got the better of Mercyhurst (13-10-2, 9-5-1 AHA) 3-0 in Erie on Friday afternoon.

A Maddy Campbell shutout was the highlight in this one, with Mercyhurst unable to score on shots.

How It Happened

Tessa Janecke won the opening draw to kick off the game. A lot of back-and-forth action soon followed, with no team getting on the scoreboard.

Mercyhurst’s Kate Donegan got sent to the penalty box for a hooking minor, giving the Nittany Lions the first power play chance of the game about halfway through the first. Despite several good looks, Penn State couldn’t beat Laker’s goalie Magdalena Luggin, and Mercyhurst killed the penalty.

Both goalies continued to stand strong, and it was scoreless through 20.

The middle frame began with a flurry of shots from Penn State, all stopped by Luggin. The pressure was put to a halt after Leah Stecker was called for tripping.

Maddy Campbell fought off several Mercyhurst scoring chances to keep the game tied and help the Nittany Lions kill the penalty.

Shortly after, Nicole Hall ripped one from the slot off a pass from Janecke to open up scoring.

Tessa finds Nicole alone in the slot and she roofs to give us a lead! #WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/25C9mqYJGo

— Penn State Women’s Hockey (@PennStateWHKY) January 9, 2026

Again, despite many chances and shots, the goalies on both teams stood strong to keep the score 1-0 through two.

Just over two minutes into the final period, Taya MacDonald extended Penn State’s lead off a wraparound pass by Hall.

Nicole finds Taya in the slot with the wraparound to push the lead! #WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/P5jRLq2xuc

— Penn State Women’s Hockey (@PennStateWHKY) January 9, 2026

Mercyhurst would get another chance on the power play five minutes into the period, but would come up short again.

On the ensuing play after Penn State’s kill, the Lakers committed another penalty to give the Nittany Lions a chance to put the game away. However, the best opportunity for the power play was for Mercyhurst’s Sofia Nuutinen, who found herself free on the breakaway, but was stuffed by Campbell with a blocker save.

The Lakers continued to keep the pressure up after their kill, but couldn’t solve Campbell, even after a Mya Vaslet penalty gave them another chance on the man-advantage.

With just under three minutes remaining, the Nittany Lions found themselves on the power play again. Danica Maynard put the game away with a snipe from the faceoff circle to make it 3-0.

An unsportmanlike conduct penalty on Mercyhurst with 12 seconds left was icing on the cake, and the Nittany Lions take this one on the road 3-0.

Takeaways

• Maddy Campbell had an excellent game, shutting out the Lakers on 27 shots and keeping them scoreless through three power play chances.
• A pretty evenly matched game, with Penn State barely leading the shots tally 29-27.
• Great games by Nicole Hall and Tessa Janecke, who both registered two points on the stat sheet.

What’s Next?

Penn State will conclude its series with Mercyhurst Saturday, January 1,0 at the Mercyhurst Ice Center in Erie, Pennsylvania. The game is slotted to start at 1 p.m., with the game being broadcast on FloHockey.