ROCHESTER, NY – Junior forward Celeste Brown (Great Falls, MT/National Sports Academy) scored 10:15 into overtime to lift the RIT women's hockey team (17-15-3) to a wild 3-2 win over Penn State (4-28-3) in game one of the College Hockey America First Round series from Ritter Arena on Friday evening. The Tigers have now won four straight contests.

Both teams had excellent chances to win it in the extra session before Brown's goal. Just 20 seconds into overtime, Erin Zach (Elmira, Ontario/Cambridge Fury) fired a shot from the faceoff circle that caromed off a body, then off the shoulder of Penn State goaltander Nicole Paniccia and off the post.

Penn State had just two shots in overtime, but both happened to be breakaway opportunities. First, Jenna Welch came in all alone on RIT goaltender Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs) off a giveaway, but the RIT goaltender stood her ground to make the save with 11:45 left. Nearly two minutes later, Jill Holdcroft had a second breakaway and tried to beat Binnington with a backhander, but she slid across and kept the puck out, keeping the score tied.

On the ensuing rush up the ice, RIT was able to get a scoring chance and a faceoff in the Penn State zone. On that faceoff, Kourtney Kunichika (Fullerton, CA/LA Selects) won the draw to Melissa Bromley (Aurora, Ontario/Aurora Panthers), who tipped a pass to Brown in the slot. Brown fired a rocket off a wrist shot through trafffic and past Paniccia under the crossbar for her 11th goal of the season, sending the Ritter Arena faithful home happy.

Jess Paton (Woodstock, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers) and Caitlin Wallace (Brantford, Ontario/Assumption Collegiate) scored goals 1:26 apart for the Tigers in the second period. Wallace's goal was the first of her collegiate career. In net, Binnington was rock solid, stopping 36 shots for her 13th win of the season.
 
Shannon Yoxheimer scored both Penn State goals. Paniccia was strong in net for the Nittany Lions, making 44 saves.

RIT out-shot Penn State, 47-36. The Nittany Lions were 1-for-2 with the man-advantage, while RIT was 0-for-2.

RIT head coach Scott McDonald was relieved to get the win, but knows his team has to play better tomorrow in order to advance in the postseason.

"Celeste (Brown) has a nice hard wrist shot and when she gets in the right spot, it's tough to stop," said McDonald. "Ali (Binnington) got the job done in net for us, especially in the overtime, giving us a chance to win the game, showing that she is one of the best goalies in the country. Tomorrow, we have to play better, play a full 60 minutes, not two periods like we did tonight. It will be key to make Penn State play our pace."

The Tigers struggled in the first period, failing to generate much in the way of quality scoring chances, while Penn State netted the lone goal, out-shooting RIT 12-9.

At the 10:35 mark, Yoxheimer fired a hard slap shot from the left side on a 2-on-1 break off the glove of Binnington and in for her seventh goal of the season. Taylor Gross took advantage of a RIT turnover at the Penn State blue line and fed Yoxheimer, who came into the RIT zone with a full head of steam before firing her hard shot past Binnington.

RIT scored twice in a span of 1:26 early in the second period before Penn State netted the equalizer to make it a 2-2 game after 40 minutes of play.

At the 3:24 mark of the period, Paton crashed the net and put home a rebound of a shot from Lindsay Grigg (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Hornets) to even the game at 1-1. Grigg took a shot from the right side that Paniccia stopped, but the puck sat in the crease. Cassie Clayton (Pickering, Ontario/PEAC School) took a swipe at the puck in the crease, getting a piece before Paton put swpt in the rebound.

Just 1:26 later, Wallace intercepted an errant clearing attempt, took three strides in and fired a wrist shot from the slot past Paniccia for her first collegiate goal.

Penn State would tie the game at the 8:43 mark on the power-play, as Yoxheimer shoveled in a loose puck from the crease after Binnington made the initial save on a shot by Laura Bowman. Amy Petersen took a shot that was blocked right to Bowman in close. Bowman's shot went off Binnington right to Yoxheimer, who was on the doorstep for the goal.

The power-play goal was Penn State's first in 18 games, spanning 66 chances, dating back to Nov. 23, 2013 vs. Lindenwood.

Neither team scored in a hectic third period in which the two squads combined for 31 shots.

Penn State's Holdcroft came in all alone on a breakaway with 8:20 left and tried to beat Binnington high over the shoulder but flipped the puck over the net. Moments later, Binnington had to come up huge on a tip attempt from Bowman in tight.

RIT received a power-play with 7:29 left and from there, dominated play from the rest of regulation. On that ensuing power-play, the Tigers peppered Paniccia, firing five shots, but the Penn State goaltender held her ground. Paniccia made a save on Morgan Scoyne (Drumbo, Ontario/Stoney Creek Sabres), with the puck sitting in the crease, but somehow, it stayed out. Later in regulation, Paniccia had to come up big on a couple of chances from Zach and Marissa Maugeri (Ajax, Ontario/Durham West Lightning).

RIT is 18-12 all-time in postseason contests at the Division I and III levels, since women's hockey was recognized as a NCAA Championship sport in 2001. Since McDonald took over as head coach in 2006, RIT is 14-7 in the postseason, including a 14-3 mark at Ritter Arena. The Tigers are 13-1 at home in the postseason over the last four seasons, including a 5-0 mark en route to winning the 2012 NCAA Division III National Championship. Last season, the Tigers advanced to the CHA Semifinals, defeating Penn State in a two-game sweep in the first round, both by one-goal outcomes, before falling to Syracuse in overtime of the semifinals.
 
Tonight was the fifth meeting between the two schools this season, as RIT holds a 4-0-1 edge this far. RIT won a pair of one-goal games against Penn State at Ritter Arena on Nov. 15-16. The two teams skated to a 2-2 tie at Penn State on Jan. 31, while the Tigers skated to a 3-1 win the next day. RIT is 9-0-2 all-time against the Nittany Lions. Six of the last seven meetings between the two schools have been decided by one goal or less.

Game two of the best of three series gets underway at 2:05 p.m. on Saturday. If necessary, game three will be at 2:05 p.m. on Sunday.