The two centers skate up, look each other right in the eyes, and hunch down, anxiously waiting for the puck as their legs fidget. Slowly, the referee inches into place as he flicks his wrist, still grasping the puck before finally plunging it down and into the fury of the centers' sticks.

Game on.

And from that first face-off on at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion, the University of Pennsylvania Quakers barely stood a chance against Penn State.

Defender Stephanie Feyock notched the first goal 45 seconds in to start the snowball in a scoring avalanche as the Lady Icers defeated the Quakers, 12-3, Saturday night.

Forward Lauren Shaw led the attack with four goals and an assist, including one shorthanded score following a winding, end-to-end skate. Center and team captain Katie King was the only other Lady Icer with multiple goals, as she netted a hat trick and an assist for herself. Two of King's goals came seven seconds apart in the second period.

Despite the impressive victory, Lady Icers head coach Jeremy Sharpe still saw some room for improvement.

"There's a lot of a fundamental mistakes that we made, but we have been off the ice for a solid month," Sharpe said. "We still have a week or two before we get back to full speed."

As evidence of the time off for many of the team members, team chemistry and defense were a little off in the game's initial stages but gradually improved as the game wore on.

"We started out sluggish and we were a little bit disappointed at that, but we started to pick it up and play better at the end," King said. "We really dominated the game by the end."

As for defense, Sharpe pointed to his team's performance, which consisted of a dangerous bend-don't-break game with the Quaker attack. Though they allowed only 17 shots on goal, the Lady Icers' sloppy defense was only to be saved by a Quaker misplay, a timely tip, or a save by goalie Tara Wheeler.

Defense will become important down the stretch if Penn State wishes to do well in the American Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs.

It is of even more importance as senior goalie Jen McDevitt has withdrawn from the university for this semester, leaving the young Wheeler as starter for the stretch drive.

Though three goals on 17 shots is a ratio that needs improvement, the team was quick to praise Wheeler's play.

"It was a tough night," Sharpe said. "Two of the goals Tara couldn't see, and one of the goals was just a weird fluke."

Shaw agreed with Sharpe's assessment, adding "It's so hard to play goalie when you're getting just sporadic shots ... She had too much time to think and wasn't acting on instinct. She played well and had amazing glove saves, though."

With the win, the Lady Icers wrapped up an unbeaten Delaware Valley Collegiate Hockey Conference season and are now beginning to eye an ACHA title run.

Saturday's game, though flawed at parts, will serve as a beneficial teaching tool, Sharpe said.

"Right now our big goal is to get through the rest of the semester and prep for nationals," he said. "Once we know we're in, we'll step up to the next level and see what we can do at the tournament."