Penn State Lady Icers coach Chris Whittemore took on the role of hockey chemist for Sunday's game at Ohio State. Whittemore has kept line combinations relatively staid this season. After suffering a 2-1 loss to the Buckeyes on Saturday Whittemore elected to mix things up -- quite a bit.

The goal, he said, was to find a way to get the Lady Icers scoring more against upper-level competition.

"We get chances against these [top] teams," Whittemore said. "We just don't bury them."

Leading scorer Katie King, who had played defense in high school, found herself back on the blue line, while freshman defenseman Kristan Overfield was moved to forward. Line combinations were fluid. Junior Kristen Reed, a defenseman by trade, was the pipes in the third period.

The result: a 4-3 overtime loss to a strong Ohio State team -- and positive reviews from Whittemore and Penn State's players. Whittemore felt his team responded well against a talented Ohio State team. The Buckeyes (12-1-1) tied the top-ranked ACHA team, Robert Morris, and earned a pair of wins against second-ranked Michigan State.

"I think we outplayed them [Sunday]," said Whittemore, adding he was pleased with Reed's effort in net. "We had some missed opportunities; we had some chances we didn't bury, [but] some new opportunities were created."

King, who scored two goals yesterday, agreed.

"It brought something a little different to us," she said. "I think overall [the changes were] pretty good. It was helpful to see where our team was at."

King's goal in the latter stages of the third period tied the game at 3 and forced overtime.

Penn State (13-8-1) held 1-0 and 2-1 leads, but the Buckeyes rallied twice to tie the game. They took a 3-2 lead, before King scored to force overtime.

Whittemore made changes throughout the game. In one period he had King playing defense and freshman defenseman Dana Voelker, junior Lauren Johnston and junior forward Jennifer Beck on the first line. Another period found Johnston, King and Overfield on the first line. Whittemore said the changes will not be limited to just yesterday's game. Expect the Lady Icers to feature a slightly altered look in Friday's game against the Pittsburgh Amateur Penguins.

"I saw a lot of things [Sunday] that we're going to go into next weekend, and we're going to try," he said. "We're going to stick with some of these combinations."

Johnston scored the Penn State goal on Saturday on a first-period power play. That tied the game at 1, but the Buckeyes rallied to jump back in front.