Penn State women's hockey bounces back, splits ranked series against Northeastern

University Park- Pa., No. 12 Penn State faced No. 13 Northeastern in Game 2 of a two-game series opening season home series on Friday, Sept. 27, at 3 p.m.

The Nittany Lions dropped Game 1, 3-1, after Katelyn Roberts, junior right wing, opened the scoring for Penn State at Pegula Arena for the 2024 season.

They bounced back today and beat the Huskies, 2-1.

“Winning is obviously better than losing,” Kampersal said postgame.

Penalties plagued the Nittany Lions in their home opener, recording six in the game.

The trend continued in Game 2 with three penalties, as the Blue and White were able to record their first win of the season.

“We skate for our penalties in practice,” said Kampersal on the team’s discipline in this opening series. He added that discipline was better in this game than in the first.

The game started slowly, moving back and forth between the Nittany Lions and Huskies offensive thirds.

With just 19 seconds left in the first period, senior center Skylar Irving notched a goal, assisted by Jaden Bogden, graduate right wing, and Éloïse Caron, freshman left wing.

Irving enters her senior season off of a career year for the Huskies. She finished her junior season with highs in goals (13), assists (22) and points (35).

The Blue and White entered the second period hot, shooting the first shot of the period just 56 seconds in.

The Nittany Lions dominated offensively this period, gaining a one-goal lead and recording 12 shots compared to the Husky’s nine.

Katie DeSa, goalkeeper for Penn State, recorded a great save with 16:56 remaining in the second period off the stick of Caron.

With 16 minutes remaining in the period, the game became chippy as both teams battled for the puck, diving on top of each other, in front of the Northeastern goal.

The second period, like the first, was spent battling for offensive possession accompanied by tight defense for both teams.

The Northeastern net was displaced with 7:21 remaining as Roberts crashed into Husky goalkeeper, Paige Taborski.

A minute later, Tessa Janecke flicked her first goal of the young 2024 season into the net behind Taborski. Roberts recorded the assist, her first of the season.

Mya Vaslet entered the penalty box for tripping with just over five minutes remaining in the period. The Nittany Lions not only survived the penalty kill, they scored their second goal shorthanded.

With one second remaining on the kill, their offensive attack rushed up the ice and Maddy Christian scored her first goal of the season off an assist by Janecke.

“That was something that just happened in the flow of play. Our penalty kill this year is if you see numbers, you see backs…you go,” Christian said as she broke down her goal.

Janecke headed to the penalty box again with 1:34 remaining in the period for interference. This serves as her third penalty in the first two games, which is behavior that can’t continue as a captain, even though she also has one goal and one assist in the game.

Kampersal said the team spoke about keeping it simple in between the second and third periods.

Holly Abela crashed into DeSa with 16:28 remaining in the third period after a save from the goalkeeper.

Neither team sustained an offensive possession halfway through the third period. The Nittany Lions and Huskies continued to travel left and right across the rink.

The Huskies emptied their net as time wound down, but the Nittany Lions were unable to send the puck into the net.

The Nittany Lions' defense helped them maintain their one-goal lead, allowing just five shots in the third period, none able to sneak past DeSa.

The Nittany Lions (1-1) enter a four-game road slate, with two games at No. 9 University of Connecticut and then a second two games at Union.

“We want to go in [to UConn] and continue to win these non-league games. That’s our mission until we get into the league [schedule],” Kampersal said.

Penn State returns home to Pegula Arena on Friday, October 18, when they host Dartmouth at 6 p.m.

Julia Henry is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism and labor and human resources, to contact her please email jbh6443@psu.edu.