Penn State scored with 00:00.6 left on the clock to tie the game but Notre Dame scored the winner in overtime to stay undefeated on the year in front of a packed Holuba Hall crowd of 1,249 on Sunday.
The Nittany Lions entered Sunday’s contest looking for a third straight victory and a second straight win over a Top 10 ranked team after knocking off No. 9 Denver on Feb 17.
The Irish opened up the scoring as Conner Doyle scored twice in a seven minute span to give Notre Dame a 2-0 lead. Penn State responded with 2:02 to go in the opening stanza to cut the lead to only one.
Penn State only needed that first goal to settle in, scoring three straight to open a 3-2 lead over the Irish with 6:39 to go in the opening half. Nittany Lions Jack Forster scored three goals on the day including two in the second quarter over a four minute span. Notre Dame tied the game with 58 seconds left in the half to tie the game a 3-3.
The Nittany Lions and Irish traded goals back and forth for the third quarter, both teams taking the lead at least once in the game’s third stanza. Penn State took a 6-5 lead in to the fourth quarter after Kyle Zittel scored with 52 seconds left in the quarter.
Penn State extended the lead to 7-5 less than a minute in to the fourth quarter. Notre Dame responded however scoring a goal with just over nine minutes to go and scoring only six seconds later off of the ensuing faceoff. With the game tied at 7-7 each minute became crucial as both teams looked to take advantage of their rapidly decreasing opportunities.
Tom LaCrosse gave the Nittany Lions the 8-7 lead with just over six minutes remaining and Penn State looked to be in control for the final minutes of the game.
Notre Dame wasn’t ready to quit and a goal with 24 seconds to go tied the game, setting up for what would likely be overtime in State College. However the Irish scored again only seven seconds later to take a 9-8 lead with only 17 seconds to go, sending Holuba Hall in to a stunned silence.
The silence didn’t last long though as Penn State won the ensuing faceoff and Tom LaCrosse raced down the far sideline, cutting in front of the Notre Dame net and scoring with less than a second to play.
Notre Dame quieted Holuba Hall once again scoring with only 1:24 to go in the overtime period to dash Penn State’s hopes of a second straight upset.
The Nittany Lions fall to 2-1 on the year following the loss and will host Ohio State on March 2 at 1:00 p.m
