Penn State Women’s Hockey Falls Short Against Syracuse, Drops Fifth Straight
Penn State (2-8-1, 0-3-0 CHA) dropped a 2-1 decision against Syracuse (5-4-0, 1-0-0 CHA) at the Pegula Ice Arena on Saturday.
Last weekend, the Nittany Lions were shutout in both games against Robert Morris, falling 4-0 on Thursday and 6-0 on Friday.
Nicole Paniccia would get the start in net for Penn State. Paniccia has yet to win a game for the Lions, posting an 0-4-1 record along with an .889 save percentage this season. Paniccia was opposed by Kallie Billadeau, who was in net for Syracuse.
Syracuse took an early lead over the Lions with a power play goal scored by Melissa Piacentini at 3:10 in the 1st period. Kaillie Goodnough and Nicole Renault picked up assists for the Orange.
Syracuse was able to control the momentum until the final minutes of the 1st period when Jordin Pardoski put a rebound past Billadeau at the 17:30 mark to get the Lions on the board. Laura Bowman and Amy Peterson assisted on the goal. It was their first goal since the New Hampshire series 13 days ago. The scoreless streak that spanned 159:13 of play.
The contest would remain knotted at the end of the opening period. Syracuse outshot the Lions 13-3 through 20 minutes of play.
The 2nd period was highlighted by good defense and solid goaltending. Syracuse outshot Penn State 16-3 in the period and Paniccia made a couple of key saves to keep the game tied.
The Orange opened up the 3rd period scoring with Melissa Piacentini’s second goal of the contest. The goal came at 1:27 and was assisted by Heather Schwarz. It turned out to be the decisive goal as Syracuse held on for its first conference win of the season. The loss is Penn State’s fifth straight.
Nicole Paniccia stopped 37 of 39 shots on the afternoon and turned in a solid performance despite losing the game.
“I’m actually personally getting a lot of shots,” Paniccia said following the game. “It’s definitely nice to be back and feel like me on the ice again.”
Penn State coach Josh Brandwene was proud of his team’s effort even though they weren’t able to pick up the win.
“Despite the outcome, a tremendous amount of growth for our young hockey team over this last seven days,” Brandwene stated. “I’m really proud of them.”
The three stars of the game were Penn State’s Jordin Pardoski (3rd) and Nicole Paniccia (2nd) and Syracuse’s Melissa Piacentini (1st).
Penn State will end the home stand tomorrow with a 2 pm puck drop against Syracuse. They’ll then travel to Rochester to take on RIT Friday and Saturday.
Jason Shawley is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jts5353@psu.edu.
