ALLENTOWN, Pa. — No. 12 Penn State advanced to its first-ever Frozen Four after sophomore Matthew DiMarsico, of Wexford, Pennsylvania, scored the overtime winner to lift the Nittany Lions past No. 7 University of Connecticut, 3-2, in the Allentown Regional Final at the PPL Center on Sunday evening, March 30.
Penn State will face Boston University in the second national semifinal at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 10, at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Denver will face Western Michigan in the first national semifinal at 5 p.m. April 10.
UConn (23-12-4) opened the scoring early in the first period as Joey Muldowney sent a wrister past the blocker of Nittany Lion junior net-minder Arsenii Sergeev (Yaroslavl, Russia) from the high slot, between the rings, at the 3:09 mark.
Penn State responded with a goal from its fourth line, as a strong forecheck behind the Husky net from freshman Keaton Peters (Sussex, Wisconsin) and graduate student Tyler Paquette (Collegeville, Pennsylvania.) produced the turnover and Paquette found sophomore Dane Dowiak (Pittsburgh) below the far dot and he one-touched the puck inside the near post for the 1-1 score at 13:27 of the first period.
The Huskies grabbed the lead midway through the second frame on a fluke play as a flick of the wrist by Tabor Heaslip from the blue line fluttered and bounced multiple times and Sergeev never had eyes on it as it slipped just inside the near post for the 2-1 edge at the 11:27 mark.
The Nittany Lions wasted little time finding the equalizer as freshman classmates Charlie Cerrato (Fallston, Maryland) and JJ Wiebusch (Verona, Wisconsin) connected once again, with the latter picking the corner from the far dot for the 2-2 score at the 11:57 mark.
After a back-and-forth overtime frame, Cerrato made a play at the blue line to juke a defender before slipping a behind-the-back pass to sophomore Matt DiMarsico (Wexford, Pennsylvania) cutting into the slot, and he ripped a wicked wrister shortside past the blocker of UConn goaltender Callum Tung for the golden goal and 3-2 victory at 17:56 of the extra session.
For more information on the 2024-25 season, visit the men's hockey page at GoPSUsports.com or call 1-800-NITTANY Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.