Syracuse Ice Hockey Goes Winless in Pair of Games with St. Lawrence
By Chilekasi Adele
CitrusTV Women’s Ice Hockey Beat Reporter
Syracuse, N.Y. – Paul Flanagan has only won one game against St. Lawrence, a team he coached for nine years from 1999 to 2008.
Friday night continued an over seven-year winless streak as the Orange fell to the Saints, 4-1. The last and only win Syracuse Ice Hockey had against the SLU was in February of 2014.
The Orange once again came out to a slow start. Friday’s matchup was the first game action for SU since their preseason matchup against RPI back on September 19th.
2:33 into the first period, Sophomore Forward Gabi Jones got St. Lawrence on the board, only for the goal to be waved off by the referees after a review. That didn’t stop the Saints from going back to the drawing board. Forward Nara Elia would put SLU up 4:36 into the first period.
Brittany Gout would add to the lead 11:12 into the first period, making it 2-0 in favor of the home team.
Allison Small would be substituted after the first period in favor of Robert Morris transfer Arielle DeSmet, who would finish the game.
DeSmet gave up two goals of her own — one on a rip by Sophomore Rachel Bjorgan in the 2nd period, and another one 9:15 into the third period by Junior Defensewoman Rachel Teslak.
Syracuse had many opportunities to score — St. Lawrence played a very sloppy game throughout, with seven penalties. Six of those penalties resulted in man advantages for SU. The Orange only mustered one power-play goal off 5 shots — coming from Senior Abby Moloughney 17:50 into the 2nd period.
Syracuse outshot St. Lawrence 59-36 and narrowly beat the Saints on faceoffs, 28 to 27.
Abby Moloughney had saved Syracuse in the waning minutes of the third period. The Senior Forward scored her second of the season late in Saturday’s game, but in the end, the game-tying goal didn’t lead to a win. It didn’t lead to a loss either, as the Orange finished tied against St. Lawrence, 2-2, in their second matchup of the weekend at Appleton Arena in Canton, N.Y.
SU did something they didn’t do in last night’s season opener or their preseason matchup against RPI — they scored first. Another Senior, Forward Lauren Bellefontaine, got the Orange on the board, scoring 14:09 into the first period.
That goal would be Syracuse’s only scoring sequence until Moloughney’s aforementioned goal in the third.
St. Lawrence scored 2 goals of their own. Sophomore Defensewoman Kristina Bahl — who was in the penalty box when Syracuse broke the ice — tied the game early in the second period.
Speaking of penalties — the second period had a lot of them. The Orange and the Saints combined for six penalties in the second period alone — both teams with 3 each. Syracuse would finish with 4, and St. Lawrence would finish with 6 for a total of 10 penalties.
SU would concede another goal in the third before tying the game. Sophomores seemed to be getting it done for the Saints, with Aly McLeod scoring off of a beautiful feed. The Stratford, Ontario native put SLU up with about 9 minutes to go in regulation.
In Overtime, the 3-on-3 dynamic contributed to some excellent chances for both teams, including a 2-on-0 chance for St. Lawrence that was stopped by Syracuse Senior Transfer Arielle DeSmet, who started and played all but 11 seconds of the game — she headed to the bench during a delayed penalty for an extra Syracuse attacker. In total, DeSmet finished with 32 saves.
Saints Junior Goaltender Lucy Morgan was also very good between the pipes, keeping the scoresheets spotless in overtime and finishing with 20 saves.
The Orange now will head back to Syracuse, and welcome the 2-0-0 Clarkson Golden Nights for two games, beginning Thursday, 10/7 at 6 PM. They travel again on the road a week from Saturday, heading to Potsdam, N.Y. to play Clarkson again.
ccadele@syr.edu | @cadeletv
