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UNIVERSITY PARK, PA - Freshman #Katie Hubert (Burlington, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas)# scored two goals as the RIT women's hockey team (4-3-0, 1-2-0 CHA) defeated Penn State (2-5-0, 0-3-0 CHA), 4-1 at Greenberg Ice Pavillion on Thursday evening. Hubert scored goals in each of the first two periods and #Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs)# made 11 saves to improve to 3-1 on the season as RIT captured its first College Hockey America conference victory.

The Tigers wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. At the 3:20 mark of the first period, Hubert gathered a loose puck at center ice and fired a shot past Penn State goalie Nicole Paniccia for her second score of the season. A few minutes later, #Jess Paton (Woodstock, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers)# grabbed a rebound in front of the net and had two chances to stuff it home, but Paniccia made tough saves to keep the deficit at one.

Later in the period, Binnington made a key stop on a deflected shot from the point to keep the Nittany Lions off the scoreboard. RIT took three penalities in the last 6:30 of the period and Penn State capitalized on their final opportunity. At the 18:54 mark, Shannon Yoxheimer corraled a shot that went wide, and beat Binnington to draw even. The Tigers held an 11-5 advantage in shots but went into intermission tied.

Each team had a scoring opportunity narrowly miss in the second period. Penn State's 2-on-1 breakaway saw the Nittany Lions shot just sail high. With 11 minutes left in the period, #Marissa Maugeri (Ajax, Ontario/Durham West Lightning)# beat Paniccia but her shot dinged off the post.

At the 7:06 mark, the Tigers converted a power-play chance on Hubert's second goal of the night, with the assists going to #Erin Zach (Elmira, Ontario/Cambridge Fury) and Lindsay Grigg (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Hornets)#. The Tigers would add on a third goal, despite being short-handed, when #Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic)# played tight defense and forced a turnover which Zach controlled and found herself alone with only the goalie to beat. The goal was her second of the season and RIT's second short-handed score of the year. RIT outshot the Nittany Lions 9-3 in the period.

RIT killed two power-plays in the early stages of the third period as the Nittany Lions tried to claw their way back into the game. Meanwhile, Penn State killed a 5-on-3 chance for the Tigers to stay within striking distance. RIT continued to control play and #Tenecia Hiller (Brampton, Ontario/Brampton Thunder)# scored at the 16:29 mark on crisp passing by #Ariane Yokoyama (Van Nuys, CA/LA Selects)# and Payerl to ice the victory.

The perfomance left Head Coach Scott McDonald pleased.

"We played with a high level of intensity," said McDonald. "We competed for every loose puck and played hard all night. Defensively, we minimized their chances and neutralized their offense which kick-started our offense with strong transtional play. It's nice to get our first conference win and our effort has been rewarded."

For the game, Penn State went 1-for-8 on the power-play while the Tigers converted on 2-of-8 chances.

RIT dominated shots, finishing with a 38-13 advantage.

Paniccia made 34 saves in the losing effort.  

The two teams will meet again tomorrow night at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion at 7:30 p.m.