The Division 1 Michigan State University women’s hockey team took on Penn State University, a new Central Collegiate Women’s Hockey Association member, in their final games of the fall 2021 semester. The Spartans returned home with two wins over the Nittany Lions, 11-3 and 8-2.
In Friday’s game, Penn State would lead 1-0 after a single period of play, but the Spartans returned hungry after the intermission and never took their foot off the gas pedal the rest of the weekend.
Sophomore Shayna Menzer tallied her first goal of the weekend off a pass from freshman linemate Lily Manderfield and freshman Phoebe Zagrobelny just two minutes into the second period of play. Junior Katie Novell put in her third goal of
the season, unassisted, before senior Morgan Graham would tally a natural hat trick with two goals to end out the second period, and one just 0:21 into the third period. Novell along with sophomore Grace Duerr and senior Lucia Schmitz (2) would grab assists on the three Graham goals that brought Michigan State’s lead to four.
Eight more goals would be found in the remainder of the third period, six from Division 1 and two from the Nittany Lions. Freshman Gillian Pirnot grabbed her second goal of the season, while Menzer put in two more goals to complete her first collegiate hat trick. Graham would find yet another goal for her fourth of the game, while Novell sniped a second one behind the Penn State goaltender, and junior Amber Danules would find her first goal of the game with less than ten seconds remaining in the game. Danules also tallied assists on both of Menzer’s third period goals, while Pirnot (2), Schmitz, Zagrobelny, and Menzer all collected third period assists.
Junior Savina Osann was in net for Michigan State, picking up their sixth win of the season to close out the first semester. Osann stopped 11 of 14 shots faced in game one.
Saturday’s second game started out with two Spartan first period goals, with Novell and Menzer adding to their weekend collection. Menzer would also assist on Novell’s goal at 7:33 in the first period, while Manderfield and Danules assisted
their linemate for the 2-0 lead. Graham would find her fifth goal of the weekend before the two-minute mark hit in period two with help from linemate and captain Natalia Asimakis before the Nittany Lions would sneak in their first goal of the game. Danules and senior Blair Dzierwa would quickly respond back with goals of their own to make it a 5-1 game heading into the third period. Novell, Graham, and Asimakis with the apples on the final two second period goals for Michigan State.
Penn State, just thirty seconds into play, would make it 5-2 with their second goal of the game. Three more goals were scored in the final period of play, with Schmitz, Asimakis and Danules collecting a goal each. The assists on the third period goals belonged to Schmitz, Graham, Menzer and Novell. Freshman Bella Vansolkema tallied her first win of the season after stopping 24 of 26 shots faced from Penn State.
The Division 1 Spartans return back to the ice in January, as they battle the No. 2 team in the country, Adrian College, in a home-and-away-series on January 15th and 16th.
Author: Mackenzie McMahon, Communications Manager
Photos: Mackenzie McMahon | Katie Smith, Graphic Design Assistant
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