BUFFALO, NY – The No. 5 seed RIT women's hockey team (12-18-5) had its 2018-19 season come to an end, falling to No. 4 seed Penn State University (13-13-9), 4-1 in the College Hockey America Quarterfinal from Harborcenter on Wednesday evening. Penn State will play top-seed Robert Morris in the first CHA Semifinal Thursday afternoon at 4:30 p.m.
 
Senior Brinna Dochniak (Marine on St. Croix, MN/Stillwater) scored her first goal of the 2018-19 season and the fourth of her collegiate career early in the third period for RIT to make it a 2-1 game. RIT would threaten with a handful of quality chances late in regulation, but could not convert. The Nittany Lions would put the game away with two empty net goals inside the final 1:20 of regulation.
 
RIT goaltender Terra Lanteigne (Hatchet Lake, Nova Scotia/Charles P. Allen), the College Hockey America Player of the Year, was outstanding in net, stopping 38 of 40 shots. She made 210 saves on 218 shots in five meetings against the Nittany Lions this season (.963 save percentage). Overall, she finished the season with a single-season program record 1,175 saves and a .944 save percentage, which leads all of Division I.
 
Natalie Heising had a goal and an assist to lead the Nittany Lions attack. Jessica Adolfsson, Abby Welch and Shea Nelson also scored for Penn State. Goaltender Jenna Brenneman stopped 17 shots for the win.
 
Penn State out-shot RIT, 42-18, including 29-9 over the first two periods. The Nittany Lions were 1-for-5 on the power-play and scored a shorthanded goal. RIT was 0-for-4 on the power-play.

"I thought we answered bell in the third period and gave ourselves a chance to get the game to overtime," said Bruce B. Bates Women's Hockey Coach Chad Davis. "We gave everything we had and I am very proud of this group. It was a tough loss, but we will bounce back."
 
Penn State would out-shoot RIT, 15-5 over the opening 20 minutes of play and score the lone goal on a power-play with 5:13 left, as Adolfsson took a feed from Heising and hammered a one-timer from the top of the slot that went through a maze of bodies and past a screened Lanteigne for the goal.
 
RIT came right out and put pressure on the Nittany Lions, but were unable to break through. Penn's State defense did a good job blocking shots in the opening period.
 
Abby Welch would give the Nittany Lions a 2-0 lead just 2:45 into the second period, shorthanded, as she fired a high shot that Lanteigne stopped, but buried the rebound, beating a Tiger to the loose puck in close and scoring her fifth goal of the year.
 
Lanteigne made a handful of key saves to keep it 2-0 on a pair of Penn State power-plays later in the period.
 
Kathryn Kennedy (Hamilton, Ontario/) had an excellent chance for the Tigers inside the final 15 seconds of the period, as she made a power move to get around a Penn State defender, but had her shot smothered by Brenneman. RIT had two other chances right before the end of the period, but neither shot could get through.
 
Tori Haywood (Pickering, Ontario/St. Mary's Catholic) had a great chance from in front denied by Brenneman 1:30 into the third period. On the ensuing face-off, Haywood sent the puck over to Mallory Rushton (Amherst, Nova Scotia/New Hampton Prep), who found Dochniak at the point. Dochniak fired a shot from the right point that eluded Brenneman for her first goal in 60 games and fourth of her career to make it 2-1.
 
That goal woke the Tigers up, as they had a handful of good chances to tie the game, including two from Rushton in the slot. Late in regulation, RIT had golden chance from point-blank range that was blocked away.
 
Tonight marked the fifth and final meeting of the 2018-19 season between the two schools, with Penn State winning four of five, outscoring the Tigers, 11-6. Penn State leads the all-time series between the two schools, 19-14-3.
 
RIT and Penn State met for the fifth time in CHA postseason history. The Tigers knocked the Nittany Lions out in both the 2013 and 2014 best-of-three first round series matchups, while Penn State returned the favor in 2016. RIT defeated Penn State, 2-1 in the CHA first round game from Harborcenter in 2017.
 
RIT is now 10-6 in the postseason at the Division I level, including a 7-4 all-time mark in the CHA Quarterfinals.
 
Tonight marked the final collegiate game for RIT's senior class of Brooke Baker (Saline, MI/Saline), Kendall Cornine (Kinnelon, NJ/Morristown Beard), Jenna de Jonge (Abbotsford, British Columbia/George Elliot), Dochniak, Kennedy, Logan Land (Turkey Point, Ontario/Holy Trinity Catholic), Rushton, Kandice Sheriff (Brampton, Ontario/), Christa Vuglar (Crystal Lake, IL/Chicago Mission).