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

Penn State had a statement sweep over Mercyhurst this weekend and they now have a chokehold on the number one spot in the CHA.

Here’s how the series looked in a report card format.

Offense: B

Last weekend, Penn State dominated on offense where they put up 16 goals against Lindenwood. In this series, they knew the offense would come a bit harder.

The scoring started later in the first period of Game 1 when Lyndie Lobdell ripped a shot from the point on the powerplay to give Penn State a 1-0 lead. Maddy Christian, Brianna Brooks and Tessa Janecke would also score to lead Penn State to a 4-0 win.

Here’s where the offense shut down. Game 2 for Penn State did ultimately end in a win but they seemingly made it more challenging but not shooting for the first two periods.

At the end of the second period, Penn State was down 2-0 and had just 13 shots on goal. The Nittany Lions would then put up 12 shots in the third period which included two goals from Leah Stecker and Brianna Brooks.

Maggie MacEachern ended up scoring the overtime winner on the first shot 19 seconds in.

Ultimately, the offense did what they needed to do but looked lost in the first two periods of Game 2. It seemed the team kept trying to feed it to Janecke and once they moved away from that, the goals started coming.

Defense: B+

Against Lindenwood, the defense was phenomenal whilst only letting up two goals the entire weekend. This weekend, they did the same but it wasn't as pretty.

In Game 1, Penn State's defense was fantastic. They only let up 22 shots on goal and helped Katie DeSa pitch her second career shutout. The only problem was that DeSa had to make at least two highlight reel saves on defensive miscues.

Game 2 was a bit different for the defense. Aside from only letting up 20 shots in the game, DeSa had to make some highlight reel saves once again on defensive errors.

The main problem was when Mercyhurst scored two goals in 11 seconds and the defense looked lost.

The defense might have bent but they didn't break as they stayed strong and held Mercyhurst to only those two goals.

Goaltending: A-

This was the biggest test of the year for DeSa and boy did she deliver.

In Game 1, DeSa made multiple highlight reel saves and stopped all 22 shots on goal for her second career shutout. She looked sharp and confident during game one as well as explosive.

Game two was even more impressive for DeSa as she stayed true to her game after letting in two goals in 11 seconds. Obviously, she is not fully to blame for the goals going in but for a young goalie to not crumble after that is special.

DeSa saved Penn State in the final minute of regulation, robbing a Mercyhurst player on a backdoor pass that was sure to go in. The save was so clean and fast that the crowd and bench didn’t even react.

Without that save and her performance, Penn State loses this series.

Coaching/Special Teams: A-

The power-play was very solid this weekend but the stronger side of the special teams was the penalty kill.

Penn State went 4-4 on penalty kills this weekend and barely let Mercyhurst get set up on some of them. In a series like this, special teams are so crucial to success.

The power play was solid but had some key factors to that.

In Game 1, Penn State went 1-3 but Janekce had a goal come just as the powerplay expired.

The same thing happened in Game 2 but it came in a more crucial spot. With Penn State down 2-0, Leah Stecker scored a goal right after Mercyhurst killed the penalty.

The biggest power play goal came from Brianna Brooks when she scored 23 seconds into a powerplay that would tie the game with 1:17 left to go.

The Nittany Lions would go 2-6 on power plays but it didn't really feel like that with two goals coming after the power play expired.

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