UNIVERSITY PARK, PA – The RIT women’s hockey team (6-21-1, 2-11-1 CHA) fell in a defensive College Hockey America battle against Penn State (9-14-5, 5-4-5 CHA), 2-0 at the Pegula Ice Arena Saturday afternoon.
Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic) led the Tigers with four shots on goal as RIT was shut out for the second consecutive contest. Jenna de Jonge (Abbotsford, British Columbia/George Elliot), in her first start since Nov. 28, was stellar early on. She finished with 33 saves in net.
Shannon Yoxheimer tallied both goals for the Nittany Lions. Hannah England notched two assists, while Remi Martin and Victoria Samuelsson tallied an assist each. In goal, Hannah Ehresmann stopped all 15 shots she faced in the win.
The Tigers were 0-for-1 on the power play, while Penn State converted on its only power play opportunity. Shots on goal favored the Nittany Lions, 34-15. Penn State won the regular season series, 3-1. RIT holds a 12-6-2 all-time against the Nittany Lions, including a 2-4-2 record at the Pegula Ice Arena. Penn State is unbeaten in its last five contests, going 4-0-1 in that span.
Both goaltenders were solid early on. Late in the first period, with Penn State attacking, Laura Bowman took a pass from the red line and fired a shot high from point blank range. But deJonge snatched the shot by in mid-air, covering it up to stop the play.
Penn State finally broke the ice with a power play goal 14:23 into the second period. Martin took a shot from the point, which was redirected by Yoxheimer as she was battling for position in front of the net. The redirected shot beat deJonge to the far side.
RIT then started to pound the Penn State net in the third period. In one sequence, Payerl had two shots on goal. After skating to the doorstep of the Penn State goalie, Payerl’s backhanded shot deflected off of the leg of Ehresman. Payerl got the rebound, trying to punch the puck in the net, but was denied once again by Ehresmann.
The Nittany Lions took advantage of the missed opportunity, as Yoxheimer doubled up the score with 4:52 remaining in regulation. She took a deflected pass by Samuelsson coming down the middle of the ice. She moved to her left, beating an RIT defender. Yoxheimer extended the puck, her shot just past the reach of de Jonge, who was sliding to her right, for the goal.
The Tigers will continue their road trip with two games against Lindenwood. Game one will begin on Friday at 8 p.m.
