It may not have been pretty, but the Penn State ACHA Division I Icers are still one step closer to the national championship.

The No. 2-seeded Icers (24-6-1) struggled to put away No. 15-seeded West Chester (17-16-1) in yesterday's opening round of the national championship tournament, but they scored three goals in the final 10 minutes of the game to seal the 4-0 win -- and advance to the second round.

"We came out with butterflies a little bit," Icers forward Garrett Divins said on the Penn State Sports Network. "They were ready to play, obviously, and we weren't."

After a scoreless first period, senior Kevin Jaeger put Penn State on the scoreboard 20 seconds into the next frame.

Jaeger cut across the center wing and lined up to shoot toward the right corner goal line. Unassisted, Jaeger's slapshot somehow found the back of the net.

"I still don't know how he scored that goal," Penn State coach Joe Battista said. "He couldn't have had more than an inch-and-a-half to work with."

Other than that, the scoring action was strictly limited to the last 10 minutes of the game. Not that they didn't come close, however.

Penn State hit the post on four separate occasions, as the Icers' accuracy was uncharacteristically off the mark.

"In the second period, we outshot them 10-9," Battista said. "But our attempted shots were 32. We missed the net 22 times."

On the positive side, Penn State's defense turned in another solid performance.

Sophomore goalie Chris Matteo recorded his second straight shutout -- the third of his career -- after stopping 28 pucks.

"We talked about this all season, our inability to capitalize on scoring opportunities," Battista said. "But the other team can't win with zero."

One of the main reasons the game remained so tight was penalties. The Icers were forced to kill off six power plays -- including a five-minute major attributed to Keith Jordan. By comparison, Penn State ended the game with only one power play.

According to Battista, another element to the close matchup was his players' stubbornness.

Battista explained that West Chester goalie Jason Mardinly wasn't too good on his feet. Apparently, Battista said, most of his team didn't listen.

"We kept trying to shoot it high, but we should've been shooting it on the ice," he said. "Guys weren't listening."

Defenseman Matt Wallace must have been the exception, though. Wallace said there was one particular issue Battista addressed that made him turn it up a notch.

"In the first half of the game, they were just outworking us," he said. "Then, coach came in and just laid it out. He said, 'Either we can pack up and go home, or we can play our game.'

"And we turned it on."

Wallace was named one of the game's three stars, as were Matteo and Divins.

Divins initiated the scoring flurry in the last period by recording a goal with 7:39 remaing in the game.

Divins used his speed to skate around one defender, and utilized his strength to push off another as he managed to poke the puck through the legs of the Rams' goalie -- with one hand.

The Icers will square off against the winner of the Robert Morris/Arizona State game at 8 p.m. tonight. According to Battista, both teams have similar playing styles.

"They're both chippy; they love to use their sticks, and they're borderline goonish," he said. "And we're going to have to play disciplined."

The Icers will likely start Paul Mammola between the pipes. Battista has voiced his concern over keeping his goalies fresh, so it would make sense to give Mammola the nod.