ROCHESTER, NY – Visiting Penn State University (3-7-8, 1-2-4 CHA) scored four third period goals en route to defeating the RIT women’s hockey team (4-11-2, 1-6-0 CHA), 5-0 on Friday afternoon at the Gene Polisseni Center.
Natalie Heising and Christi Vetter scored two goals apiece to lead the Nittany Lions, while Sophie Slattery also scored. In net, Hannah Ehresmann made 15 saves for the shutout.
Terra Lanteigne (Hatchet Lake, Nova Scotia/Charles P. Allen) made the start in goal for RIT and stopped 26 of 30 shots. Jessi O’Leary (Woodstock, New Brunswick/Athol Murray) played the final 11:48, stopping five shots.
Penn State out-shot RIT, 36-15. Penn State was 0-for-3 on the power-play, while RIT was 0-for-1.
“We did not play well this afternoon,” said Bruce B. Bates Women’s Hockey Coach Scott McDonald. “We hope to be much better tomorrow and try to gain a weekend split.”
Neither team scored in a briskly played first period that took just 23 minutes of real time to complete, as Penn State held a 7-4 edge in shots.
Lanteigne had to come up big just 1:20 in, as Amanda McLeod came in all alone. McLeod tried to beat Lanteigne to the blocker side, but Lanteigne was able to stay in front of the shot and smother it. Moments later, Katie Rankin took the puck off a Tiger defender right in front of the net and tried to go high, but once again Lanteigne was there for the big save.
Mallory Rushton (Amherst, Nova Scotia/New Hampton Prep) had a hard shot smothered by Ehresmann just as a power-play ended late in the period. Brooke Baker (Saline, MI/Saline) also was denied by Ehresmann on a tip-in attempt as she was crashing the net.
Penn State would open the scoring 2:59 into the second period, as Heising took a feed from Brooke Madsen in the neutral zone, came into the RIT end and fired a shot from the right wing past Lanteigne to the far side for her fifth goal of the season.
Lanteigne would be called upon to make a handful of key saves later in the period to keep it 1-0 Nittany Lions.
Penn State seized control in the third period, scoring 1:57 apart to take a 3-0 lead. Slattery converted on a rebound in front after a shot from Abby Welch 1:03 into the period to make it 2-0. Heising scored her second of the game and sixth goal of the season on a rebound in tight three minutes into the period.
Vetter would tally consecutive goals to complete the scoring. Her shot from the right wing deflected off a RIT defender and past Lanteigne with 11:08 left to give the Nittany Lions a 4-0 lead. Vetter took a feed from McLeod with 42 seconds left and fired a shot from the slot past O’Leary
Today was the first of four-game series between the two teams this season. The Tigers and Nittany Lions will also meet at Penn State on Feb. 16-17, 2018.
RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 13-12-3. Penn State won three of five meetings between the two schools in 2016-17, but the Tigers ended the Nittany Lions season in the CHA First Round last season, winning 2-1 at HARBORCENTER in Buffalo.
RIT and Penn State wrap up the weekend series Saturday afternoon from the Polisseni Center at 1 p.m. On Sunday, both the RIT men’s and women’s teams will hold a holiday skate with fans that gets underway at 11 a.m.
