WHKY: Penn State Splits Senior Weekend Series with Lindenwood

Story posted February 14, 2016 in CommRadio, Sports by Keith Smith

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA- Penn State women’s hockey battled the Lindenwood Lions for senior weekend at Pegula Ice Arena in a two-game series that took place Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

On Friday, Penn State had the momentum early in the first period but Jordin Pardowski took a hooking penalty giving Lindenwood the man advantage. The Nittany Lions killed off the penalty, and moments later, Laura Bowman scores on a centering pass from Amy Peterson, giving Penn State a 1-0 lead with 11:42 left in the first.

Penn State found a power play opportunity when Lindenwood’s Sarah Bobrowski took a slashing penalty, giving the Nittany Lions a chance to get an even bigger lead. Lindenwood killed the penalty and keep it a one score game. After one period of play Penn State took a 1-0 lead into the locker room.

Penn State continued to have fire in their eyes in the second, as they remained dominant on offense, giving them multiple scoring chances including one that hit the post and bounced out. Lindenwood found some offensive end presence as Penn State gave up a few pucks in its defensive end. Penn State regained momentum moments later when Lindenwood’s Carrie Atkinson took an interference penalty allowing Penn State another chance to increase their lead. Lindenwood killed the penalty, but seconds later captain Shannon Yoxheimer buried a shot on net minder Hensley giving the Nittany Lions a 2-0 lead with 9:59 left in the second.

Penn State started the third period when Shannon Yoxheimer scored her second goal of the evening advancing the lead to three goals. Penn State continued to dominate the third period giving Lindenwood no chance to get anything going offensively. Late in the third period, the Nittany Lions’ Remy Martin took an interference penalty giving Lindenwood one last chance to get back into the game. Penn State was able to dig deep and kill off the penalty and keep Lindenwood off of the board. As the horn sounds Penn State wins the game 3-0 giving Celine Whitlinger a much-deserved shutout win.

Saturday afternoon started with a lot of back and forth play, both teams having a hard time finding offensive zone presence. The Nittany Lions found some momentum halfway through the first when Carrie Atkinson for Lindenwood took an interference penalty. Lindenwood killed off the penalty and found some momentum offensively getting a scoring chance but goaltender Hannah Ehresmann shuts down the chance keeping the game scoreless. Shara Jasper found the back of the net, scoring her 19th goal of the season. Moments later Tae Otte took a penalty, giving Penn State a chance to come back with a minute of play in the first period. The Nittany Lions could not score before the horn sounds and Lindenwood kept a 1-0 advantage after one period of play.

Penn State started the second period with a powerplay opportunity left over from the first period but they could not capitalize. After the power play chance for Penn State, Lindenwood found some offensive zone presence and then Kelly Seward takes a tripping call allowing Lindenwood to continue their offensive dominance.  The Nittany Lions were able to kill off the penalty keeping the game 1-0 with 13:19 left in the second. Lindenwood got into penalty trouble again when Tae Otte took a hooking call then as Penn State is on the power play Hannah Bramm takes a holding call giving Lindenwood the man advantage. The Nittany Lions dig deep and kill off the penalty the horn sounds and Lindenwood remains on top 1-0 after two periods of play.

The third period saw a lot of back and forth play with neither team getting offensive zone chances. Penn State got some offensive zone chances late in the third period but still are unable to capitalize and get the tying goal. The horn sounds and Lindenwood takes a 1-0 win from Penn State splitting the series one game a piece. Penn State travels to Erie next weekend to battle Mercyhurst in the last series of the regular season.

Keith Smith is a senior majoring in telecommunications. To contact him, email kds5304@gmail.com.