Penn State Sports Magazine
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J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 47 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: The Lady Lions started their Big Ten season with a pair of losses. Penn State took Minnesota to double overtime on the road on Dec. 3, getting a career-high 34 points from senior guard Makenna Marisa before falling 98-96. Marisa hit 7 of her 10 three-point attempts and topped her previous career high of 33 points, set against Duquesne in December 2021. Five days later, the Lady Lions welcomed fourth-ranked Indiana to the Bryce Jordan Center and led by as many as five points late in the second quarter. The Hoosiers pulled away in the second half, though, building a 15-point edge, 55- 40, with just under eight minutes to play. Penn State slashed it to seven with 1:34 left but could get no closer and fell 67-58. Redshirt sophomore guard Leilani Kapinus had 15 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists, but as a team, Penn State struggled with its shooting and was ice cold from the perim- eter, going 4 for 22 from three-point range. "The story of the game was field goal per- centage," head coach Carolyn Kieger said. "We let them shoot 52 percent and we shot 35 [overall]. So, back to the drawing board. We'll continue to [work on] improving our offense and getting quality shots." The Lady Lions bounced back with a 69-57 nonconference victory over visiting West Virginia on Dec. 11, getting 15 points from Kapinus to im- prove their record to 8-3 overall. MEN'S ICE HOCKEY: Penn State split its fifth consecutive Big Ten series when it defeated No. 19 Notre Dame 5-2 on Dec. 9 and fell 5-3 the follow- ing night. The No. 5 Nittany Lions scored the winning goal in the series opener with 12 minutes to play in the third period. Senior forward Connor MacEachern, capitalizing on an assist from classmate Kevin Wall, slipped the puck past Fighting Irish goalie Ryan Bischel for a 3-2 lead. Penn State later scored two empty-net goals to put the game out of reach. The Nittany Lions broke a five-game losing streak at Compton Family Ice Arena with the victory, but they weren't able to sustain their momentum the following night. They peppered Bischel with 50 shots, but he made a career-high 47 saves, and the Irish led 5-1 early in the third period before PSU got two late goals from MacEachern and junior Christian Sarlo to make the final score 5-3. Before facing the Irish, Penn State had split series against Michigan, Minnesota, Michigan State and Ohio State. In all of those series, the Lions won the opener only to lose the finale the next night. Penn State was 15-5-0 overall and 7-5-0 in Big Ten play heading into a home-and-home nonconference series against the Rochester Institute of Technology Dec. 30-31. The Big Ten season resumes Jan. 13-14 at Michigan State. WOMEN'S ICE HOCKEY: Penn State headed into its winter break on the heels of a three-game winning streak. After shutting out Boston University 3-0 on Nov. 26 in the finale of the Henderson Collegiate Hockey Showcase in Las Vegas, the 12th-ranked Nittany Lions returned to Pegula Ice Arena and outscored Syracuse 15-3 in a two-game series Dec. 3-4. Junior goalie Josie Bothun made 18 saves in the opener against the Orange, earning her fourth shutout of the year and propel- ling the Lions to a 4-0 victory. The following day, Penn State got a hat trick from junior forward Kiara Zanon along with 2 goals apiece from junior forward Olivia Wallin and senior forward Eleri MacKay. The result was an 11-3 win, with the Lions setting a school record for most goals in a single game. Penn State was sporting a 13-8-1 overall record and a 5-1-0 mark in the College Hockey America conference heading into a two-game series against visiting Long Island University Dec. 30-31. MEN'S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD: Middle-distance runners Olivier Des- meules and Austin Gallant shined at the Blue and White Intrasquad Meet Dec. 10 at the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track. Desmeules, a sophomore from Quebec City, set a Canadian U-23 record when he finished the 600-meter race in 1:16.63. Gallant, a freshman from Battlefield, Va., who was making his Penn State debut, completed the 500-meter race in an unofficial time of 1:02.43, second-fastest in school history. Casimir Loxsom owns the school record, having finished in 1:01.28 in 2011. — Matt Herb O L Y M P I C S P O R T S N O T E B O O K of the Lions' success this season to the chemistry between the newcomers and the returning players. One of those re- turnees — sophomore middle blocker Allie Holland — joined Williams on the first-team All-Big Ten squad after aver- aging 1.34 blocks per set. "I put a lot on the returners and the changes that they wanted and how they were going to accept all these new play- ers," Schumacher-Cawley said. "I think a lot of the returners did a great job. They all had some pretty high standards and goals and what they wanted to do. Our job was to show them how and help lead them. I'm proud of all of them." In the end, that combination helped smooth the transition from Rose's ultra- successful 43-year coaching tenure to the start of the Schumacher-Cawley era. Penn State finished 11th in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the 42nd consecutive year. The Nittany Lions are the only team to have made the Division I field every year that the tour- nament has been held. ■ Senior forward Connor MacEachern scored the winning goal in Penn State's 5-2 victory at Notre Dame on Dec. 9. PHOTO BY DANIEL ALTHOUSE