UNIVERSITY PARK, PA – The visiting RIT women's hockey team (4-24-3, 1-16-0 CHA) fell to College Hockey America Penn State University (7-13-11, 4-6-7 CHA) by a score of 4-1 from Pegula Ice Arena on Friday evening.
 
Mallory Rushton (Amherst, Nova Scotia/New Hampton Prep) scored a first period goal for the Tigers, while Jenna de Jonge (Abbotsford, British Columbia/George Elliot) made 35 saves in net.
 
Natalie Heising scored two goals for the Nittany Lions, while Kelsey Crow added two assists. Sophie Slattery and Kate Ryland also scored, while Hannah Ehresmann made 10 saves for the win.
 
Penn State out-shot RIT, 39-11. The Nittant Lions were 2-for-6 on the power-play, while RIT was 0-for-4.
 
Rushton got the Tigers on the board just 2:55 into the game, as she took a feed from Brooke Baker (Saline, MI/Saline) on the rush, cut to the middle and backhanded a shot through the legs of Ehresmann for her fourth goal of the season. Tori Haywood (Pickering, Ontario/St. Mary's Catholic) also assisted on the goal.
 
Rushton nearly made it 2-0 with just over four minutes left in the period, intercepting a loose puck at her own blue line and darting into the Nittany Lions zone on a breakaway. With a defender hounding her, Rushton made a move to the backhand and tried to lift it over Ehresmann, but the Penn State goalie made the big save.
 
Penn State would out-shoot RIT, 17-3 and score three unanswered goals in the second period to hold a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.
 
Heising would tie the game at 1-1 on a 5-on-3 power-play at the 7:17 mark, burying a rebound from the left side of the net after de Jonge made two previous stops. A little over five minutes later, Heising struck again, collecting a rebound in front after de Jonge made a great save on Kelsey Crow. Heising was left all alone and she slid the puck around de Jonge for her 13th goal of the season.
 
Slattery made it a 3-1 game with 1:25 left in the period, putting in a rebound after de Jonge made the initial save on Meike Meilleur.
 
Ryland closed out the scoring with a power-play goal for the Nittany Lions with 10:56 left in regulation.
 
Penn State leads the all-time series between the two schools, 14-13-3. Penn State won the first two meetings of the season between the two schools at RIT on Dec. 1-2 by scores of 5-0 and 2-0. RIT last defeated the Nittany Lions in the 2017 CHA First Round game.
 
RIT and Penn State complete its regular season series Saturday afternoon from Pegula Ice Arena at 1 p.m.