In their trip to the east coast, Lindenwood women’s ice hockey fell in back-to-back one-goal games at Penn State over the weekend.

Lindenwood’s first matchup with the Nittany Lions took place on Friday night, their first game since Dec. 7, when they hosted and lost to Syracuse. The first was tight for a majority of the period, with Lindenwood goalie Annika Asplundh, who made her return for the Lions after suffering a concussion in November, getting off to a hot start with 15 early saves. Near the end of the period, however, Penn State was able to get on the board with a goal from Izzy Heminger.

About seven minutes into the second period, Lindenwood’s Megan Wagner was called for tripping, which proved to be costly for the Lions. On their power play, Penn State was able to double their lead as Heminger found Rene Gangarosa 8:07 into the second.

It was 2-0 in favor of Penn State through the first two periods, but the Lions were finally able to get one back early in the third. At the 5:29 mark, Sierra Burt and Cierra Paisley set up Bailey Coyne to make it a one-goal game. But that wouldn’t be enough in the end, as Lindenwood fell by a final score of 2-1.

Looking to rebound on Saturday, Lindenwood got off to another slow start in the first period. Opening the scoring at 11:32 was Shea Nelson, who was assisted by Gangarosa and Brooke Madsen on the score. Then with just 14 seconds remaining in the first, Natalie Heising scored on the power play to give Penn State a 2-0 lead.

The Nittany Lions added on about 10 minutes into the second, courtesy of Kate Rydland to make it 3-0. Lindenwood would find an answer around five minutes though, as Kirsten Martin scored her first goal of the weekend to put the Lions down by two.

For much of the third, both teams were held quiet on offense as the Nittany Lions focused on protecting their two goal lead. Lindenwood would find a breakthrough with two minutes remaining, as Wagner cut the difference to just one at 18:00. This would prove to be too little too late for the Lions, as they fell 3-2 to Penn State.

Lindenwood now holds a 2-14-3 record overall and have dropped six consecutive games. Their last win was back on October 18, when they won 3-1 at home against Union. Lindenwood will be back home for two games against RIT next Friday and Saturday.