PSU to Sponsor ACHA Women's D2 Team

Katie Vaughan might finally have a place in Penn State hockey.

Following rumors that scarce ice time was putting PSU's women's ACHA team in jeopardy for this coming season, the plan is apparently moving forward, according to a brief article posted to the ACHA's site:

As part of the on going NCAA advancement of the Ice Hockey program the Penn State Womens program will be moving into the Division 2 starting this upcoming year.

No details beyond that are known at this time, but they are expected soon.

That's certainly welcome news for the numerous players from last year's Lady Icers who did not make the NCAA roster, notably star goalie Katie Vaughan, along with Allie Rothman and Cara Mendelson on defense and Katie Murphy and Katharine Gausseres up front (I can't verify any participation - I'm simply naming significant players from last season who weren't seniors and aren't now on the NCAA team).

The "demotion" from D1 to D2 is probably a smart move, given the increasing wherewithal required to assemble a competitive D1 team on both the men's and women's sides, particularly in terms of travel and recruiting. It's largely axiomatic that a D2 team is the best way to go for a men's program seeking to co-exist with the NCAA. In fact, men's D1-NCAA setups are prohibited by an ACHA rule, although one that's never enforced. With the women, the evidence is a little less clear. NCAA DI schools Connecticut and Minnesota-Duluth have ACHA D2 teams, while Northeastern, Minnesota, Ohio State, Massachusetts, Vermont and Wisconsin were in D1 last year.

The differences between women's D1 and D2 include:

• Lower membership dues ($1050 vs. $1250)
• Lower games played requirements for tournament eligibility (six against three other D2 teams vs. 12 against six other D1 teams)
• D2 players do not need to be degree-seeking students, although all must pass at least six credits to be eligible
• Up to six years of total eligibility for players (D1 has a maximum of five)
• Shorter periods (17 minutes vs. 20 minutes)

D2 competition - introduced for women in the 2006-2007 season - would potentially give Penn State a much tighter geography than the Lady Icers' New England trips of seemingly every other weekend. Pennsylvania schools Slippery Rock, West Chester, California (a frequent Lady Icers opponent), Villanova and barely-out-of-state Delaware all played in women's D2 last year. Wisconsin-Stout defeated Alaska for the 2012 national championship, culminating a tournament featuring six of 23 teams.

Last season's Lady Icers, of course, went 12-7-1-0 against ACHA competition, part of a 13-14-3-1 overall record that included a historic upset of NCAA DI team Sacred Heart and the ECWHL regular season championship. Women's hockey at Penn State began for the 1996-1997 season and joined the ACHA in 2000 when it first added a women's division. Since then, it's enjoyed a highly-successful history that includes six national championship tournament appearances and a trip to the semifinals in 2002.

W: Penn State 5-2 vs. Liberty 1-3

Saturday box score // Sunday box score

Descoresie? Defoursie.

Ranked 12th at the conclusion of the fall semester, the Lady Icers since then (and bolstered by incoming transfers Taylor Gross and Jess Desorcie) have pumped out wins against NCAA Division I Sacred Heart, then-No. 5 Rhode Island and then-No. 1 Northeastern. So naturally, it was a little upsetting when Friday's poll showed that the payoff for that effort was but one spot in rankings. Against that backdrop of disrespect though, a rallying cry emerged among a steeled team: "kick in the door."

Desorcie took an enthusiastic first kick Saturday afternoon against new No. 5 Liberty, staking PSU to a 2-0 lead in the first five minutes of the game. She finished the natural hat trick at the tail end of a hitting from behind penalty to Liberty's Madison Fischer with 11:07 left in the second period. A fourth goal with nine minutes remaining polished off the final result. The goals gave Desorcie 12 in just seven games since arriving from NCAA Division III Connecticut College.

In hockey, the ultimate team sport, nobody ever does anything alone, and Desorcie - as good as she is - is no exception. With her the whole way were linemates Gross (who scored the other PSU goal and assisted on three of Desorcie's) and Tess Weaver (who assisted on all five Lady Icer goals).

It can be said every week but Katie Vaughan was also outstanding, making 24 saves while surrendering only Carly Peleshok's second-period goal that trimmed the PSU lead to 3-1.

Hockey, like life, isn't perfect though. Sometimes all the kicking in the world can end with mixed results, as happened when Liberty came back to win 3-2 on Sunday. Katharine Gausseres, a tremendous two-way Lady Icer, answered Laura Del Monte's power play goal midway through the first to tie the game at one. Over the next 30 minutes though, Liberty would jump out to a 3-1 lead - enough to withstand Weaver's goal on the advantage in the third period. The Flames, the alleged favorites, had escaped the Ice Pavilion with a split, despite Penn State's being in control for large portions of the game according to observers (PSU enjoyed a 33-23 shot advantage).

If a tie is like kissing your sister, a weekend "tie" has to feel about the same. Maybe a little worse with a bid to the ACHA national tournament on the line. Still, the big picture hardly looks that dire. While the team's record is 8-13-2, it's 7-5-0 against ACHA competition. Furthermore the team, as currently constituted, has gone 3-3-0 this semester against the current No. 2, No. 4 and No. 5 teams in the ACHA (scoring three more goals than it has given up in the process). PSU has clearly proven worthy of the top five, even if the polls haven't reflected that yet.

The good news is that there are remaining chances to change minds. Next weekend brings a return trip to No. 4 Northeastern for a third and a fourth game against the Huskies in a 16-day stretch. The Lady Icers play the last of ten games in New England (all in a span of 16 total games) February 10th and 11th against No. 6 Massachusetts. The next home games are February 18th and 19th against Vermont, but by then, the bids to nationals will have already been awarded to the top eight teams in the February 17th ranking. Until that though, there's just one thing left to do.

Keep kicking.

Fall Semester Review: Lady Icers

Freshmen Tess Weaver (left) and Cara Mendelson (right) - both from Josh Brandwene's rapidly-growing Pittsburgh pipeline - have become lineup mainstays.

As one might expect with a program that will make its NCAA Division I debut roughly nine months from now, the past six months have brought an avalanche of news related to the Penn State's women's program, all of it positive.

To recap: On June 1, former Icers defenseman Josh Brandwene was introduced as Penn State's first varsity women's coach. He moved quickly to fill out his staff with previous ACHA head coach Mo Stroemel and former Boston University star-turned-Neumann assistant coach Gina Kearns. On September 6, a press conference took place announcing that PSU will join College Hockey America beginning with the inaugural DI season (also of note in the CHA: a web streaming deal was finalized and Lindenwood was added as the conference's ever-important sixth member). Two days later, the team's 2011-2012 roster was released, including a fourteen-player recruiting class. In August, National Sports Academy senior Emily Laurenzi became the first NCAA-only recruit in program history, and in November she was joined by 12 other players in signing National Letters of Intent for next season. And I didn't even mention developments concerning the Pegula Ice Arena, breaking ground in February, until now.

Got all that? Good.

Turning to what has transpired on the ice so far this year, it's probably fair to say that the Lady Icers' final pre-varsity season has gone about as expected. A brutal fall semester schedule that included eight games against NCAA Division III competition plus one against future CHA rival Robert Morris resulted in a 4-9-2 record (4-2-0 in ACHA games).

Then again, despite the 0-7-2 mark in those NCAA games, PSU has shown remarkably well. Only twice (once against the DI Colonials) have the Lady Icers lost by more than two goals. Before a semester-closing 5-0 home loss to Neumann (the other game with a large margin), Penn State had a five-game DIII streak that went like this:

1. November 4: A scoreless tie at Chatham.
2. November 5: A 2-2 tie at Chatham.
3. November 18: A 2-1 overtime loss at home to Cortland.
4. November 19: Another 2-1 Ice Pavilion defeat to Cortland, this time in regulation.
5. December 9: A 2-1 loss at Neumann in which PSU arguably had the better of the play over the last half of the game

As frustrating as a large series of close losses is, the team's competitiveness while playing up in weight class has to be seen as a large positive. Games such as these are definitely something that will serve Brandwene's charges well moving forward.

Those charges so far have been led by an interesting mix of freshmen and veterans. Newcomers like dynamic scorer Tess Weaver, talented forward Katie Murphy and a sturdy defense group including the pair of Madison Smiddy and Ashton Schaffer, along with Paige Harrington, Cara Mendelson and Lisa Frank, have played vital roles.

Sophomore Allie Rothman has shown great versatility in jumping from defense to forward.

They have been well complemented by returning players Sara Chroman and Allie Rothman - who linked up with Weaver in the December 9 Neumann game to form a particularly dangerous line - as well as hard-working Katharine Gausseres and consummate teammate Carly Szyszko (we learned about that last year, when she played goalie). And of course, there's Katie Vaughan, the goalie with DI ability who liked Penn State enough to pay to attend. Vaughan has been spectacular all season, although unfortunately, many of her biggest games have come in losses (her 92 saves in 98 shots in two games against DIII Potsdam in October come immediately to mind).

If the first semester was about the Lady Icers flexing some muscle against the NCAA, the spring will be about building an ACHA resume worthy of a trip to nationals in Wooster, OH from March 8-10, 2012.

Two more NCAA games, at DI Sacred Heart on January 13 and 14, await. But for the No. 12 team in the country, the more important contests will be at home against No. 5 Rhode Island (the team's next games, on January 6 and 7), at home against No. 10 Ohio State (January 28 and 29), at No. 1 Northeastern (February 3 and 4) and at No. 6 UMass (February 10 and 11). Those latter eight games will determine whether PSU is able to claw its way up the poll in time for the final ranking on February 17.

W: Penn State 1-0 vs. Neumann (NCAA DIII) 2-5

Neumann site Friday recap // Neumann site Saturday recap // Friday box score

The Lady Icers are now 4-9-2 overall and 4-2-0 in ACHA games, following a sweep at the hands of NCAA Division III's Neumann University (1-6-2).

Friday night's affair, in Aston, PA and live-blogged at the bottom of this post, was particularly excruciating. NU got on the board both first and second in the opening frame off of the sticks of Kristine Acosta and Nicole Alexopoulos (the latter on the power play), and it looked like the Knights might blow PSU out of the rink early.

Then, on the way to a rout, a funny thing happened. Katie Vaughan kept PSU in it long enough for the Lady Icers to gain in relative strength as the game went on, with one notable close call coming on a potential Tess Weaver power play goal that was the victim of a quick whistle midway through the second. A senseless head contact major infraction by NU's Olivia Pryzbylkowski against Allie Rothman gave PSU an extended power play, and Sara Chroman made the Knights pay with a point blast to halve the lead early in the third. Despite several quality chances in the final 16:21, the Lady Icers were unable to dent NU goalie Allie Frank for a second time.

Any hopes of carrying that game's trajectory into the Ice Pavilion half of the home-and-home Saturday night were decisively smashed. Here's the entirety of the available information, courtesy of the Neumann site recap. From the sound of things, it seems as if most of NU's best players Friday were also their best the next day.

The Neumann University women's ice hockey team completed a weekend sweep of Penn State University on Saturday evening with a 5-0 win in exhibition action.

Edie Brenning notched two goals for the Knights, including the opening tally. She also had an assists. Ang Gilmour and Jennie Greenlee added a goal and an assist. Lynsey Nakamura also lit the lamp. Allie Frank had the shut out in net.

The Lady Icers are now on semester break, with the next games scheduled against rival Rhode Island on January 6 and 7.