Kassidy Lawrence stopped a career-best 35 shots, but three goals in the first period powered the No. 8 Penn State Nittany Lions to a 3-0 win over the ninth-ranked St. Lawrence University women's hockey team on Thursday night at Pegula Ice Arena.

The Saints moved to 0-1-0 on the season, while Penn State moved to 1-0-0.

Penn State took an early lead, scoring back-to-back goals in just 24 seconds.

The first for the Nittany Lions, Tessa Janecke set up Katelyn Roberts, who beat Lawrence with a low shot on the power play. The second goal came off the stick of Nicole Hall, who capitalized on a rebound with a shot over the blocker of Lawrence.  

Grace Outwater made it 3-0 for the Nittany Lions with a quick shot off a faceoff from the right circle with 8:41 to play in the first.

With the 3-0 lead after 20 minutes, Penn State held a 15-4 advantage in shots on goal.

The Nittany Lions held onto an edge in play throughout the second, but Lawrence kept the score the same, shutting down Penn State on multiple occasions, including a breakaway from Outwater during a short-handed rush.

After two periods, Penn State held a 28-9 advantage in shots on goal.  

St. Lawrence pressed in the third period, getting five quality shots on Nittany Lions goaltender Katie DeSa.

With 4:05 to play in the third, head coach Chris Wells called a time out to draw up a plan, and with a pending Nittany Lions penalty, pulled Lawrence from goal for the 6-on-4 opportunity.

Penn State's defense and DeSa held strong in the final minutes to secure the shutout.

"Penn State came out like we expected them to," said Wells. "Big, fast, strong, and ready to go. We found a way to get settled down and played better as the game went on. We had a good third period and started to do some things that we can build on for tomorrow and in the games in the near future."

Lawrence finished with 35 saves, while DeSa made 15 for Penn State.

The Nittany Lions finished with a 38-15 advantage in shots on goal and blocked 14 shots to the Saints' 12.

"With a young team we will find out early what works and what we need to work on," Wells added. "Playing teams like Penn State are great for us this time of year as they will push us to be our best, even though it can be frustrating. They are going to be a team that will be hard to handle. They have all the necessary components to play well into March."

The two teams will meet again tomorrow, September 26, opening faceoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.