OT win sends Penn State to first NCAA Frozen Four in school history
For the first time in program history, Penn State is heading to the NCAA Frozen Four. Matt DiMarsico's overtime goal lifted Penn State past UConn for a dramatic 3-2 victory that sends Penn State to St. Louis in two weeks for the NCAA D1 Men's Hockey Tournament Frozen Four. The crowd at the PPL Center in Allentown, largely in favor of Penn State, erupted in unison.
UConn had held the upper hand for much of the third period and overtime in terms of temp and shots on goal, but DiMarsico took advantage of a good opportunity in the UConn end to zip one past Huskies goaltender Callum Tung, who played well all night long. DiMarsico's goal came with just over two minutes remaining in the overtime. Given how the extra session had been going overall, Penn State needed that moment in a big way because UConn's physical style and forechecking was working well for the majority of the later stages of the game.
UConn's Joey Muldowney opened the scoring with a goal off a Penn State turnover early in the first period. But Penn State had been here before by giving up an early goal to Maine in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday. It took a little bit of time to get an answer on the board, but Dane Dowiak slapped in a game-tying goal on a perfect setup in front of the net.
Penn State and UConn went into the first intermission tied at 1-1, but UConn regained a one-goal advantage in the second period with a bit of a luck on a redirected dribbler past Penn State goaltender Arsenii Sergeev, the former UConn Husky who transferred to Penn State last summer. But once again, Penn State had a quick response to tie things back up. Freshman JJ Wiebusch capped a furious offensive possession with a goal just 30 seconds later.
The two teams went into the second intermission knotted at 2-2, and the third period saw a stalemate once again to send the game into overtime. UConn took some of the momentum with aggressive play and outshot the Nittany Lions in the third period.
Penn State will face Boston University in its first Frozen Four appearance in school history in two weeks in St. Louis. Bowton dominated Ohio State in its first NCAA tournament game and punched its ticket to the Frozen Four with a 3-2 overtime victory over Cornell on Saturday. Boston U is certainly no stranger to the Frozen Four stage, but Penn State has now taken out two teams from Hockey East en route to St. Louis. Why not take out one more?
Penn State and Boston will square off in the Enterprise Center in St. Louis on April 10, with the official start time to be determined. Penn State is the only Big Ten team left standing in the NCAA tournament.
Follow Kevin McGuire on Threads, Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.
Follow Nittany Lions Wire on X, Facebook, and Threads.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
28 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Zakai Zeigler drops bid to play 5th college season, but his lawsuit against NCAA will continue
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Zakai Zeigler of Tennessee has dropped his bid for a federal judge to let him play a fifth season of Division I basketball in five years, but his lawsuit against the NCAA will continue, his attorneys said Tuesday. Last month, a judge denied Zeigler's request for a preliminary injunction that would allow him to return to the Volunteers. He appealed that ruling, but his attorneys voluntarily withdrew the appeal on Tuesday.
CNN
34 minutes ago
- CNN
UPenn reaches agreement with Trump administration on transgender athletes and erases Lia Thomas' records
The University of Pennsylvania will block transgender athletes from female sports teams and erase the records set by swimmer Lia Thomas as part of an agreement with the federal government, the Department of Education said. The agreement comes as part of the Trump administration's broader restrictions on transgender people, as it steps up its efforts to ban transgender athletes from competing in women's sports nationwide and serving in the military. Thomas, a UPenn graduate, won the 2022 NCAA championship in the women's 500-yard freestyle. Thomas is a transgender woman. 'Penn has always followed — and continues to follow — Title IX and the applicable policy of the NCAA regarding transgender athletes,' UPenn President J. Larry Jameson said in a news release Tuesday. In February, the NCAA announced an overhaul of its transgender athlete policy to limit transgender participation in women's sports in response to Trump's executive order. The White House in March cut off $175 million in federal funds for Penn related to the transgender athlete issue. It's not clear whether that money will be restored. 'Penn will continue to adhere to these new rules,' Jameson added. Thomas' records have been removed from a UPenn list of all-time school records in women's swimming. A note at the bottom of the document reads, 'Competing under eligibility rules in effect at the time, Lia Thomas set program records in the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle during the 2021-22 season.' CNN has reached out to the NCAA for comment regarding the agreement. The US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights said in a statement Tuesday that an investigation found UPenn violated Title IX by 'permitting males to compete in women's intercollegiate athletics and to occupy women-only intimate facilities.' Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination at any academic institution that receives federal funding. 'We will review and update the Penn women's swimming records set during that season to indicate who would now hold the records under current eligibility guidelines,' Jameson said. UPenn also agreed to issue a statement specifying that it 'will adopt biology-based definitions for the words 'male' and 'female' pursuant to Title IX' and consistent with two executive orders on transgender athletes from President Donald Trump, according to the Department of Education. The school says it will also apologize to female student athletes who lost to Thomas during the 2021-2022 swim season. 'We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time,' Jameson said. In February, Trump signed an executive order titled 'Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports' with the goal of banning transgender women from competing in women's sports. 'With this executive order, the war on women's sports is over,' the president said during a signing ceremony surrounded by dozens of women and some young girls in athletic uniforms. Some critics claim transgender athletes have an unfair advantage in sports, but that's not what the research shows. While research is limited and ongoing, a 2017 review in the peer-reviewed journal Sports Medicine found 'no direct or consistent research' showing trans people have an athletic advantage. A more recent October 2023 review of the research concluded that sex differences do develop following puberty, but many are 'reduced, if not erased, over time by gender affirming hormone therapy.' Physical attributes that could work in a trans girl's favor, like height or limb length, for example, appear to be 'less malleable,' the study said, but it also pointed out that there are no efforts to restrict cisgender athletes who are taller than average or exceptionally gifted physically in any other way. The executive order is two-pronged, leaning on compliance with Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs or activities that receive funding from the federal government, as well as federal engagement with the private sector. Ahead of the signing, a White House official said that the new action would take the opposite position on Title IX from the Biden administration, which established a rule that schools are violating Title IX when they ban transgender students from participating on sports teams. The Trump administration's position on Title IX, the official previously said, is 'if you're going to have women's sports, if you're going to provide opportunities for women, then they have to be equally safe, equally fair, and equally private opportunities, and so that means that you're going to preserve women's sports for women.' Thomas became the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title in 2022 after finishing first in the women's 500-yard freestyle event. A former swimmer on the men's team at UPenn, Thomas has come to personify the ongoing debate on trans women's participation in sports and the balance between inclusion and fair play. Thomas previously told the SwimSwam podcast she realized she was trans the summer of 2018, but kept it to herself, wary that coming out would take away her ability to swim. 'The very simple answer is that I'm not a man,' she told Sports Illustrated in March. 'I'm a woman, so I belong on the women's team. Trans people deserve that same respect every other athlete gets.' In February, three former athletes at UPenn's women's swimming program sued the school, the Ivy League Council of Presidents and athletics organizations, claiming they violated federal law to allow Thomas to compete against them. Thomas has not commented publicly on the latest lawsuit. Despite her expressed intention to keep swimming competitively after college, Thomas has been barred from international events by the rules of World Aquatics, which only qualify transgender athletes who have not experienced biological puberty. The Court of Arbitration for Sport denied Thomas' challenge to the rule, making her ineligible for most elite competitions, including the 2024 Olympics. This story has been updated with additional details.
Fox Sports
35 minutes ago
- Fox Sports
Zakai Zeigler drops bid to play 5th college season, but his lawsuit against NCAA will continue
Associated Press KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Zakai Zeigler of Tennessee has dropped his bid for a federal judge to let him play a fifth season of Division I basketball in five years, but his lawsuit against the NCAA will continue, his attorneys said Tuesday. Last month, a judge denied Zeigler's request for a preliminary injunction that would allow him to return to the Volunteers. He appealed that ruling, but his attorneys voluntarily withdrew the appeal on Tuesday. 'While we had hoped to see Zakai back in orange and white, he's embracing the next chapter of his basketball career with optimism and resolve,' the law firm Litson PLLC said in a statement. 'We remain committed to pressing his case forward in the trial court, where the core legal issues remain very much alive.' The 5-foot-9 Zeigler was not selected in last week's NBA draft, but ESPN reported that the Detroit Pistons have signed him to their Summer League squad. Zeigler is one of several athletes suing the NCAA over its eligibility rules, arguing the ban on playing more than four seasons in a five-year window is a monopolistic practice that deprives athletes of the opportunity to earn name, image and likeness compensation. He argued in his lawsuit that he could earn between $2 million and as much as $4 million if he played another season at Tennessee. ___ AP college basketball: recommended in this topic
