The Penn State Lady Icers tallied two wins this weekend, beating both teams on the road. They defeated the Maryland Terrapins on Saturday in a close game that ended 4-3, and boasted a three-goal shutout against Rutgers University on Sunday.

Saturday's game marked the first meeting between Penn State and Maryland. Because Maryland has just recently joined the Mid-Atlantic Women's Collegiate Hockey Association, neither team knew exactly what to expect from the other.

"We didn't know what we were going to see," Maryland coach Amy Terhaar said. "Our game plan was to just adjust to what we saw."

Penn State coach Billie Willits had a similar game plan in mind.

"Since we weren't sure of Maryland's strengths, we knew we were going to play hard," she said. "We wanted to shoot a lot. We wanted to get some quality shots early in the game. And we did that."

With two minutes left in the first period, forward Lauren Shaw scored for Penn State. The Lady Icers held the one-goal lead for the rest of the first period and much of the second. Then, at 13:11 of the second period, Terrapin Courtney Schafer put the puck past Jessica Gurskey to even up the score.

Lady Icer Katherine Oates answered Schafer's goal with one of her own five minutes later. Then, teammate Ellen Zajko added another one, giving Penn State a two-goal lead into the third.

That lead got bigger when Penn State forward Michelle Zulkowsky scored the last goal for Penn State, which turned out to be the game-winner. The Terrapins scored two more goals, enough to keep Penn State playing hard, but not enough to win the game. Scoring for Maryland was Schafer, and Nina Fleming.

"She (Schafer) is our leading scorer," Terhaar said. "She is always in the right place at the right time. She has great hockey sense."

Terhaar was very impressed with the way her team played. "They played awesome," she said. "As a group, this is the best I've seen them play. They were in the game every second."

Willits also was impressed by Maryland.

"I was impressed with Maryland's ability to adjust to us," Willits said. "I was equally impressed with the way our women continued to play. We played to the last second of the game."

Willits also gave praises to both goalies.

"Jess Gurskey stayed in there," she said. "She made some incredible saves late in the game. I really have to give credit to her. Their goalie was particularly strong also. She is a strong goalie down low. We had a number of good shots on her that were very close to going in, but she kept them out."

The play of the goalie was also an interesting aspect in the game against Rutgers on Sunday. Willits chose to start back-up goalie Jeannine Kausch.

"We wanted to give Jeannine a little bit of game experience. She didn't have a lot of shots on her, but she made some crucial saves and kept the momentum going," Willits said.

Kausch played her first game as goalie and stopped every shot that came her way.

"I was pretty nervous," she said. "I knew I had confidence and my team behind me. It wasn't too bad."

Kausch was not expecting to stop every shot. She said her team contributed 80 percent to the shutout.

The first period was all about the play of the goalies, as both teams were held scoreless.

Then, at 11:14, Penn State forward Jenna Lichtenwalner scored the only goal of the second period. The Lady Icers scored at 8:39 of the third on a goal by Lauren Shaw and at 5:44 with one by Kate Specchio to win the game 3-0. Kausch was credited with the shut out.

Kausch, who usually plays the forward position, volunteered to be back-up goalie when the team didn't have one at the beginning of the season. Now, she isn't sure which position she likes better.

"It's really a toss up between the two," Kausch said.

"I've been a forward for 6 years, but goalie is a whole new experience. I kind of like that."