UNIVERSITY PARK, PA – The Union College women's ice hockey team split their weekend series with Penn State following a 2-1 loss on Saturday afternoon at Pegula Arena. With the loss the Dutchwomen drop to 3-4-0 on the season.
Junior goaltender
Shenae Lundberg continued her strong start by stopping 32 of 34 shots on the day. Lundberg is now just three saves away from 200 on the season and has a .925 save percentage to compliment a 2.39 goals-against-average.
The Nittany Lions jumped out to the lead in the first period when Jill Holdcroft stripped a Dutchwomen defender and beat Lundberg with a deke to her right for the 1-0 lead 12:28 into the period.
The second period momentum swung Union's way when Jenna Welch took a pair of consecutive minor penalties. The Dutchwomen, much like in Friday's game where they tallied two goals on two power-play shots, capitalized on the PSU miscue and struck from the stick of sophomore forward
Courtney Turner. Her goal was set up by junior forward Bryanne Panchuck and senior captain
Maddy Norton. Union held an 11-10 edge in shots, with Whitlinger saving 10 Union attempts.
Penn State took the lead in the third period when a nice string of passes led to Amy Petersen sliding a pass in front of net that got past Sara Nielsen. The puck bounced off the boards to Jeanette Bateman who rifled a shot off the pad of Lundberg where Laura Bowman was able to clean up the game-winner.
In the final frantic 90 seconds, Union pulled Lundberg and Whitlinger lost her stick. Penn State was resilient, blocking passes and disrupting the Union onslaught. Whitlinger stopped a
Maddy Norton attempt from distance as Penn State skated off with its first win at Pegula Ice Arena.
Penn State went 1-for-3 on the power play with 10 shots recorded, while Union was 1-for-4 with seven shots on net. Nittany Lions goaltender Celine Whitlinger stopped 20 shots on the game.
The Dutchwomen return to action next weekend when they travel to Syracuse for a single matchup with the Orange. Puck drops at 2pm on Saturday at Tennity Ice Pavilion.
