MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. – Penn State freshman defenseman Jessica Adolfsson netted her first career goal as a Nittany Lion, but Penn State fell in their second-straight College Hockey America (CHA) game 4-1 at Robert Morris Saturday evening.
Penn State (7-9-2, 2-6 CHA) now heads to its holiday break and won't play another game until late December.
Robert Morris improved to 8-8-4 overall and 6-1-1 in conference.
Adolfsson's goal came on a power play in the third period with the Nittany Lions trailing by two and was assisted by Izzy Heminger and Shea Nelson.
Robert Morris' Jaycee Gebhard scored the final three goals for the Colonials to finish with a hat trick. Natalie Marcuzzi scored RMU's opening goal in the first period.
Jenna Brenneman made 25 saves in goal for Penn State while RMU's Lauren Bailey countered with 34 saves.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first period was a back-and-forth affair with few scoring chances until Robert Morris broke through on Marcuzzi's goal late in the period.
She decided to shoot the puck on a two-on-one breakaway. Brenneman made the initial stop, but Marcuzzi cleaned up the rebound at 16:00.
The Nittany Lions wound up with more shot attempts (69-46) and shots on goal (35-28) for the game, but they ended up playing several minutes in their own zone after a pair of penalties that gave the Colonials a couple of power play chances in the second period.
Penn State managed to kill off both penalties, but another quick strike by Robert Morris, this time by Gebhard, at 18:06 in the period doubled the Colonials' lead.
The Nittany Lions didn't have a chance on the power play until the third period. They didn't convert on their first go round, but a second try enabled them to cut the RMU lead in half.
Nelson moved the puck from the goal line to Heminger at the right point who shuffled it over to Adolfsson in the middle of the ice. Her slap shot navigated its way through traffic and a nice screen in front by Loli Fidler shielded Bailey's view of the puck for Adolfsson to notch her first goal at 10:11.
The goal gave the Nittany Lions some jump and they had a few more scoring chances after the goal, but Gebhard and the Colonials needed just one shot to regain the two-goal advantage. Gebhards' redirect at 12:16 have Robert Morris the 3-1 advantage.
Penn State resorted to pulling Brenneman late in the third for the second consecutive game, but this time, Robert Morris scored on the empty net courtesy of Gebhard with just under a minute remaining to ice the game 4-1.
GAME NOTES
- The Nittany Lions have three-straight games with a power play goal, their best stretch this season and longest stretch since 2/24-3/2/18 (3 games).
- Adolfsson became the fifth Penn State freshman to tally her first career goal this season.
- After being outshot 11-7 in the first period, Penn State had 28 shots to RMU's 17 for the final two periods.
- Robert Morris had the slight edge in the face off circle 28-24.
Penn State will now have a 28-day break before returning to the ice on the road at Boston University Dec. 30-31.