No. 6 Penn State women’s hockey (6-3, 5-1 AHA) beat St. Lawrence (2-7, 0-0 ECAC) 3-1 at Appleton Arena on Friday night.

Although St. Lawrence led for most of the evening, sustained Nittany Lion pressure eventually led to a close victory in Canton, New York.

How it Happened

Alanna Devlin won the opening faceoff for the Nittany Lions and play began. Sophie Morrow had the first shot for the Nittany Lions, and uneventful back-and-forth action proceeded for the first ten minutes of play.

Saints’ defenseman Kennedy Emerson took the game’s first penalty with around 10 minutes left in the first period when she was called for tripping. The Nittany Lions failed to get things going on the player advantage, however, and the game stayed deadlocked at zero.

Directly following the penalty, Penn State forward Sydney McIntosh found herself on a breakaway. Initially, it looked like Lawrence turned away the opportunity, but after further review, it was found the puck had fully crossed the line, and the play was changed to a goal for the Nittany Lions.

However, officials reviewed the play again and ruled that Penn State committed goaltender interference, so no goal was the final call.

Immediately after the bizarre sequence, St. Lawrence scored the game’s first goal, as forward Mae Severn pounced on a rebound to give the Saints a 1-0 lead with just under seven minutes to go in the first period.

After St. Lawrence began the second period with early pressure, standout forward Grace Outwater received a beautiful drop pass and had a dangerous scoring chance, but Lawrence turned it away and kept the Saints’ lead intact.

With just under 10 minutes left in the second period, Penn State forward McKenna Walsh played a rim off the glass perfectly and found herself on a breakaway. Despite a nice move, Lawrence once again shut the door, keeping the Saints ahead.

As the second period came to a close, Penn State continued to ramp up the pressure to try and find an equalizer. A chance from forward Abby Stonehouse appeared to be a premium opportunity to knot the game, but Lawrence denied the Nittany Lions once again. Moments later, McIntosh was also denied on a wrist shot from just outside the circle.

Physicality began to ramp up in the third period, with the two teams trading heavy blows. First was a big hit on Stonehouse by the Saints, followed by a big check by Nittany Lion defender Danica Maynard.

Penn State’s offensive pressure finally led to success when Stonehouse scored on a backdoor pass, beating Lawrence to tie the game at one shortly after the midway point of the third period.

Penn State was then given a premium opportunity to take the lead when St. Lawrence defenseman Alex Therien took a five-minute major penalty for boarding. The Nittany Lions capitalized, as Stonehouse finished on a one-timer for her second goal of the evening, giving Penn State a late 2-1 lead.

Outwater also scored later on the power play, sniping a wrist shot past Lawrence to extend the Penn State lead to 3-1.

The two power-play goals proved to be the difference for Penn State, as the game ended 3-1 in favor of the Nittany Lions.

Takeaways

• Penn State’s quickness provided multiple premium scoring opportunities, overwhelming St. Lawrence defenders
• Goaltending proved to be a difference maker in the matchup, as the teams’ netminders made a total of 53 saves throughout the matchup
• Penn State’s continued pressure eventually managed to crack the code on goaltender Kassidy Lawrence, despite the fact that the Nittany Lions were held scoreless throughout the first two periods.
• Alternate Captain Abby Stonehouse was the difference maker offensively, scoring two of three goals for Penn State.

What’s Next

The Nittany Lions are back at it against St. Lawrence tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m., again at Appleton Arena. The game will be streamed for viewers at home on ESPN+