WICE blows lead late in tie vs RIT

By Luke McGrath

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Syracuse Women’s Ice Hockey team let a two goal lead slip away in the third period, settling for a 2-2 tie Friday night against RIT.

The Orange outplayed the Tigers on the stat sheet, outshooting them 34-14, but ultimately settled for one point in the standings.

It was Allie Munroe who got the scoring started for the Orange mid-way through the first period. She buried the puck in the back of the net after receiving a pass in the slot from Emily Costales, who got an assist on the play along with Stephanie Grossi.

About five minutes later, Kelli Rowswell put the Orange up 2-0 beating the RIT goaltender on a pass from Lindsay Eastwood.

SU was unable to extend their lead after Rowswell’s goal in the first period.

There would be no scoring in the second period, but about six minutes into the third period, RIT’s Kendall Cornine ripped a puck past Syracuse goal tender Abbey Miller. The goal that put the Tigers behind by just one goal was assisted by Taylor Thruston with about 14 minutes left to play.

The Orange held on to its 2-1 lead until Kendall Cornine scored again for the Tigers. Cornine’s second goal of the game was a power play goal that was assisted by Claudia Black and Reagan Rust.

Syracuse Head Coach Paul Flanagan was not pleased with his team’s inability to close out the game to secure a win against their conference foe.

“Poor execution, it’s the story of our year, blowing games in the third period,” Flanagan said. “I can’t say anything good to be honest with you, it’s pretty obvious right now and I’m really disappointed.”

A win Friday night would have put the Orange at a tie for second with Penn State in the CHA conference standings.

Syracuse had six power play opportunities, but did not score a goal on any of its chances.

Allie Munroe, a sophomore defender who scored a goal Friday, knows that she and the rest of her team need to be more productive on the power play.

“I think just getting shots to the net and winning the battles and kind of blocking them off on the face offs and just kind of getting shots through,” Munroe said. “Just everything that makes a power play successful we need to be better at.”

SU does have a chance to redeem itself Saturday when they travel to Rochester to play RIT at its rink.

Munroe said her team did not play to its full potential Friday night, and says it needs to play better in its rematch with RIT.

“We can do better than that for sure, everyone in that [locker] room knows that we can do better and hopefully tomorrow we come ready to play because tonight I think we’re pretty disappointed in the tie,” Munroe said.

Coach Flanagan agreed with Munroe that the team needs to play better Saturday.

“You gotta tell yourself when we get on the bus tomorrow that we’re gonna go ready to play and not pre determined that we’re just gonna show up and win the game,” Flanagan said.

Syracuse will attempt to bounce back Saturday when the puck drops at 2 p.m. at the Gene Polisseni Center.