Pitt Panthers Come from Behind, Defeat West Virginia, 5-4, in Regular Season Finale

Pitt Panthers’ defender Cady Melvin (18) handles the puck in the offensive zone against West Virginia in a game Sunday at Hope Gas Ice Pavilion in Morgantown. — (Ed Major/PHC)

MORGANTOWN, Wv. — In a thrilling come-from-behind win to end their regular season, the No. 11 Pitt Panthers defeated the No. 9 West Virginia Mountaineers 5-4 at Hope gas Ice Pavilion at Mylan Park Sunday afternoon. 

Down 4-2 with less than 8 minutes remaining in the game, the Panthers rattled off three-straight goals in just over three minutes and goaltender Ella Venters stopped 30 out of 34 shots in the game to earn the win.

But it had been yet another slow start for the Panthers.  Similar to their previous game against RIT, the Panthers once again relied on tight defense to keep the game close.

West Virginia controlled the puck for most of the first period.  Kylie McKenzie opened the scoring at 10:08 and Kylie Crabb found the back of the net at 15:46 to give the Mountaineers a 2-0 lead. 

Pitt continued to play strong defense, never letting the Mountaineer lead grow any larger than two goals.  Madison Sloan finally got the Panthers on the board late in the second period with less than five minutes left to cut the WVU lead in half.  Makenna Kelly responded for West Virginia with less than two minutes left in the period to extend the lead again.

In the third period, Lyttleton scored her first of two goals at 7:15.  Once again, West Virginia responded.  Less than a minute later, Leah O’Donnell scored a power play goal, and it looked like the Mountaineers were outlasting the comeback attempt. But the Panthers kept pushing.

Francesca Gambino scored at the 12:34 mark of the third, captain Audrey Monro-Neely followed it up with the game-tying goal at 13:50, and Fletcher Lyttleton scored the game-winning goal, her second of the game with less than five minutes to go, to seal the 5-4 Pitt win.  It was Lyttleton’s second consecutive multi-goal game, and she now leads the team in points and goals with 10 in 16 games.

Of note: Pitt captain Audrey Monro-Neely went down with a minute remaining in the game after taking a hit in the offensive zone. It appeared to be a leg injury as she was helped off the ice by teammates. While it was encouraging to see her eventually walk off the bench after the game, it’s notable for the Panthers as Monro-Neely has 9 points in 12 games this season, good for second on the team behind Lyttleton. If she misses time, the Panthers will need to lean on additional leadership for its playoff game Saturday versus Niagara.