SU Rebounds in Weekend Series
By Brandon Ross
Things didn’t go the way Syracuse wanted them to on Friday night. The SU outshot Lindenwood and won the faceoff battle, but still came up short in a 1-0 loss. But the tides turned on Saturday, as the Orange took down the Lions 5-4.
Scoring began late in the first period, as Erin Near of Lindenwood and SU’s Allie Munroe each found the back of the net in the last five minutes.
The second period saw Syracuse take a lead that it wouldn’t give up for the rest of the game. After surrendering an early goal to Hannah Alt, the Orange’s Savannah Rennie and Lindsay Eastwood both scored to give SU a 3-2 heading into the second intermission.
Emma Polaski and Brooke Avery scored early in the 3rd to pad Syracuse’s lead to 5-2. The Lions did make a run late, with Alt and Cierra Paisley adding quick goals to make it 5-4 with eleven minutes left. But the SU defense shut Lindenwood down after that, with the Lions’ last eight shots either being blocked or saved by Orange goalie Edith D’Astous-Morea.
D’Astous found herself back in net after senior goalie Abbey Miller got the start on Friday night. Aside from the four goals allowed, D’Astous-Morea stopped 21 pucks in the contest, passing the 100 save mark on the season in the process.
Syracuse also played much better on the power play on Saturday. After going 0-4 on Friday, the Orange scored two power play goals on Saturday off the sticks of Munroe and Polaski.
With the win over Lindenwood today, SU remains in third place in College Hockey America. But with Mercyhurst falling to Robert Morris Saturday afternoon, the Orange is only two points out of second place. The CHA teams that finish top two in regular season conference play earn a first round bye in the conference tournament that starts on March 1st. Syracuse only has one more series left on the schedule, with RMU trekking up to Tennity Ice Pavilion for a two game series next weekend.
