Penn State women's hockey wins tight battle with Syracuse in overtime

It was a Hockey Halloween as No. 12 Penn State took on Syracuse Orange in a spooky affair.

Syracuse came into this matchup 2-7 off of a series loss to Boston University last weekend.

Penn State was fresh off an 11-1 blowout win over Stonehill in the Ice Breaker Tournament this past weekend in Columbus.

The puck was dropped on Halloween Night with Syracuse desperately looking for a win and the Nittany Lions looking to keep the train rolling into the weekend.

Penn State went on the power play not even two minutes into the game where they would look to end the struggles on the man advantage as they entered tonight's game 6-38 on the PP for the season

The Orange would kill off the penalty and immediately bring it to Penn State. Syracuse just continually brought pressure on the forecheck and made it extremely difficult for Penn State to set anything up.

Penn State looked sloppy, not making any tape-to-tape passes and mishandling pucks in their own end.

Goaltender Katie DeSa had to come up with some big stops in the back half of the first period especially when on the penalty kill.

The Nittany Lions would then use that momentum to break the ice with a goal from Kendall Butze with around a minute to go in the period and the Nittany Lions took the 1-0 lead to the locker room.

Penn State continued that pressure right out of the gates with some good chances that could not be capitalized on.

A bad break for the Nittany Lions sprung the Orange in on a three on one in which Tatum White cashed into knot the score up at one with 15:52 to go in the period.

After that, Carly Sardine of Syracuse was assessed a five-minute major for an elbow to the head and Penn State had a prime opportunity to regain the lead.

Penn State once again had plenty of high-scoring chances on the man advantage but no dice. “We need to stop looking for the perfect play on the man advantage and start just getting the puck to the net,” head coach Jeff Kampersal said

A terrible mistake while on the power play by Penn State sent them to the box for too many men.

Just minutes after four on four play ended Syracuse took the lead on a shot from the point that was deflected in front by Nea Tervonen to give the Orange a lead late in the second.

Once again sloppy play from Penn State in their own end led to another good scoring opportunity for Syracuse to close out the second period.

Down 2-1 entering the third period, Penn State needed to find an equalizer.

The Nittany Lions headed to the Power Play for a big opportunity to level the score.

Penn State was able to find the goal they needed but the goal was deemed no good after further review. The refs said the player had interfered with the netminder's ability to play the puck even though the goaltender was outside the crease.

Syracuse then got a much-needed kill as they looked to swing the momentum back in their favor.

Penn State continued to chip away by throwing pucks at the net and at the 14:17 mark of the third period, Maddy Christian tied the game up at two.

The Nittany Lions had a few good chances to end period number three but it wasn’t enough and the game headed to OT on Halloween Night.

Penn State was tested all night long but in the end, it was Brianna Brooks sending everyone home with a wrister from the left dot to give the Nittany Lions the win 3-2.

Kampersal when asked about the quick turnaround, said, “I think we have the depth in our lineup that will be able to help us tomorrow and I, I think the momentum we had in the third period tonight will carry over into the first five minutes tomorrow”.

These two squads are back at it Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. from Pegula Ice Arena.

Austin Moran is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email acm6506@psu.edu.