2023-2024 Penn State women's hockey report card: vs. Lindenwood

After splitting last weekend against the last-place Syracuse Orange, the Nittany Lions ended up sweeping Lindenwood and are now on a three-game win streak.

Here’s how Game 2 looked in a report card format.

Offense: A+

Last series, Penn State’s offense was inconsistent as they scored one goal in game one and five in game two.

This weekend, Penn State scored 17 goals in two games led by Tessa Janecke. Janecke notched a hat trick in game one along with three assists. Janecke added two more assists in game two which would give her eight points on the weekend.

The Penn State offense put up 88 shots on goal this weekend.

Defense A-

Ironically, Penn State held Lindenwood to 21 shots in both games putting them at 42 shots total for the series.

Penn State’s defense was exceptional and seemed to be stepping up for Katie DeSa in net. They blocked 14 shots this weekend which is very solid considering only 42 shots were put up by Lindenwood.

The defense let up only two goals this weekend and barely let Lindenwood forecheck in game one. In game two, there were times where the defense got hemmed in their own zone but ultimately they prevented anything from happening.

Goaltending A+

With the sudden injury to Penn State’s goalie Josie Bothun, Katie DeSa needed to step up and she delivered.

In both games, DeSa’s angles looked very sharp and her positioning was on point. DeSa made big-time saves and stopped 40 shots out of 42 on the weekend.

During the postgame press conference, head coach Jeff Kampersal and players spoke very highly of DeSa’s play.

Kampersal noted she was with “damage control” as well as “controlling the rebounds.” He went on to say that DeSa did “an awesome job” in this series.

Coaching/Special Teams B-

If you look at the stats, you will see that Penn State was 5-11 on power plays this weekend. Usually, that would be considered pretty decent but you might have failed to read deeper.

In Game 1, Penn State was gifted two 5-minute major power plays. On both five-minute majors, Penn State only struck once.

Considering the team put up 10 goals in the game, it’s a little shocking that only two goals came from 5-minute majors.

Obviously, you can’t really prepare for five-minute majors but Penn State definitely should have scored more power-play goals this weekend.

Matt Becker is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email mcb6250@psu.edu