Despite goals from Julia Gosling and Abby Hustler, the St. Lawrence University women's hockey teams comeback effort fell short, falling 4-2 to the No. 11 Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday afternoon in Canton, N.Y.
 
The Nittany Lions had a strong first period, outshooting St. Lawrence 17-2, but Saints' goaltender Lucy Morgan had an outstanding first period to keep the game scoreless.
 
The middle frame was a period of momentum shifts.
 
The beginning of the period saw strong transition play from both teams.
 
Eight minutes and thirty-two seconds into the period, Penn State's Kiara Zanon beat a Saints defender on a two-on-two rush and passed it backdoor to Courtney Correia, who tapped the puck into an open net.
 
The Saints would respond with a great shift by the Gosling, Kennedy Wilson, and Anna Segedi line. After a long-sustained possession in the Nittany Lions' zone, Gosling re-directed Kristina Bahl's shot past Penn State's Josie Bothun's glove with six minutes and forty-four seconds remaining in the period.
 
SLU took control of the second period after Gosling's goal, with multiple great opportunities, especially on their first power play of the game at 4:43, but Bothun and Penn State's defense stood tall.
 
With one minute and twenty-eight seconds remaining in the period, Penn State grabbed the momentum back. Alyssa Machado capitalized on a St. Lawrence miscue in the Nittany Lions offensive zone, beating Morgan over her glove on a breakaway.
 
Despite outshooting Penn State 18-10 in the second period, the Saints trailed 2-1.
 
St. Lawrence began the third period on the power-play, but nine seconds into the period, the Saints took a penalty. After four-on-four action, Courtney Correia tipped home her second goal of the game on the power-play.
 
The momentum was strongly in favor of the Nittany Lions, but the Saints would respond.


 
Shailynn Snow's strong fore checking efforts caused a turnover in Penn State's defensive zone. She fed Abby Hustler cross-ice, who sent a rocket over Bothun's shoulder to bring the Saints within one.
 
St. Lawrence had two power-play opportunities after Hustler's goal, but were unable to convert. Bothun made multiple clutch saves to protect Penn State's lead.
 
With under a minute to go, St. Lawrence pulled Morgan for the extra-attacker, but the Saints could not capitalize on the six-on-four advantage. Correia secured the Nittany Lions victory with an empty net goal, giving her a hat-trick.
 
"Penn State came out very strong and we were very lucky to be in the game after the first," said head coach Chris Wells. "We played hard in the second and got back to what works for us. Losing isn't what we prefer, but this time of year we are able to learn and grow from this game. Even without our best effort we still had plenty of chances to tie the game up.
 
Lucy Morgan finished with 37 saves, while Josie Bothun had 27.
 
With the win, Penn State improved to 2-2, while St. Lawrence fell to 1-3 on the season.
 
The Scarlet and Brown return to the ice and make the short trip down to Syracuse for a Thursday night showdown on October 6. Two days later on Laurentian Weekend, Syracuse will come to Appleton on Saturday, October 8^th at 3:00 p.m.