Penn State Women’s Hockey Drops OT Heartbreaker to Syracuse

Story posted November 10, 2013 in CommRadio, Sports by Zach Lacher

The Nittany Lions lost a heartbreaker, as they fell to the Syracuse Orange, 4-3, in a tough overtime battle.

The game was a matchup of quantity versus quality throughout. The Orange came out and outshot the Nittany Lions right from the opening puck drop.

Syracuse was able to total 35 shots on goal, to Penn State’s 13, through two periods. Even with the lack of shots, Penn State was still able to hold the lead at that point, 2-1. One goal came via a first period wrist shot from the point which was deflected in by center Kendra Rasmussen and the other a second period stuff-in, which was credited to Penn State captain right winger, Taylor Gross.

Penn State was able to tack on one more, with a top shelf glove side wrister, from winger Amy Petersen, but it was only a matter of time before the Syracuse offense was able to finish their scoring chances.

The Orange produced clutch third period goals, getting one from winger, Nicole Ferrara, and then one from defenseman Danielle Leslie, at 13:54, which proved to be the game-tying goal and a ticket to push the game to overtime.

Syracuse freshman center Jessica Sibley delivered a game-winner 1:27 into overtime, on a wrist shot that beat the Penn State netminder, Celine Whitlinger.

After the game, Amy Petersen was able to express the positives the team showed despite the loss.

“We played well in the defensive zone; we put the puck in the net and worked together,” she said. “Overall we played better in the general areas then we usually do.”

 “We’ve grown so much as a program over the past seven days. These girls played for 60 plus minutes and never wavered,” added Penn State head coach, Josh Brandwene. “Sometimes you do all the right things but don’t get the result you want. Right now the challenge for us is to be disappointed but build on the growth.”

The Nittany Lions look to bounce back this Friday, as they hit the road to take on the R.I.T Tigers from Ritter Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Zachary Lacher is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email zjl5023@psu.edu.