Box Score UNIVERSITY PARK, PA – RIT women's hockey team (8-13-3, 2-7-1 CHA) let a second period lead slip away in a 2-1 loss to Penn State (11-9-3, 6-4-1 CHA) at the Pegula Ice Arena on the campus of Penn State Saturday afternoon.
Celeste Brown (Great Falls, MT/National Sports Academy) scored RIT's lone goal 2:22 into the second period to give RIT the lead after a scoreless first period.
Jess Paton (Woodstock, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers) and Emilee Bullied added the assists on the score. Bullied blasted a shot from the top that was tipped by Paton to the opposite side. Brown tipped the puck in over Penn State goaltender Celine Whitlinger as she dove across the net.
The Nittany Lions took advantage of an RIT penalty, scoring at the eight-minute mark of the period. Shannon Yoxheimer put in the goal from with assists from Bella Sutton and Kelly Seward to tie the game. At 10:21, Penn State took the lead for good when Sutton scored on a shot from the outside that Binnington was screened on.
"This was certainly not our best effort," said RIT head coach
Scott McDonald. "We continued the trend of taking lazy penalties and not being able to kill them off."
The two teams were deadlocked at 27 in shots after RIT took a 13-7 advantage in the third. The Nittany Lions were 1-for-5 on the man-advantage, while the Tigers were 0-for-2.
Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs) made 25 saves for RIT, while Whitlinger got the win for Penn State with 26 stops.
"Coming down the stretch right now we need to learn to play with a lot more discipline and poise if we are going to climb out of the bottom of the standings," said McDonald.
RIT is now 11-2-2 all-time against Penn State, with the Nittany Lions holding a 2-1-0 edge this season. Nine of the last 11 games between the two teams have been decided by one goal or ended in a tie.
The two teams will complete the regular season standings on Sunday, Jan. 18 at the Pegula Ice Center with a 2 p.m. puck drop.
