Syracuse Wins First-Ever CHA Title Behind Whole-Team Effort

By David Edelstein

CitrusTV Ice Hockey Reporter

BUFFALO, N.Y.—Syracuse Women’s Ice Hockey played in the College Hockey America finals six times before tonight, but SU never left with the title. Now, backed by a whole-team effort, the Orange are CHA champions.

Third-seeded Syracuse (13-21-3, 10-8-2 CHA) defeated CHA regular-season champion Robert Morris (16-14-6, 13-4-3 CHA) 6-2 on Friday at the Harborcenter in Buffalo.

This is the first conference title for Syracuse in the 11 years since the program began. The win earns SU its first NCAA Tournament bid in program history.

Six different players scored for the Orange, and four other SU players that did not score, tallied points on assists.

This game seemed to follow many trends from last night’s victory.

For the second night in a row, Syracuse scored first as Allie Olnowich opened up scoring 9:21 into the game to give Syracuse a 1-0 lead. SU also allowed its opponent to score within the last minute of period one, as Caitlyn Sadowy scored for RMU to tie the game 1-1 right before the first intermission.

Plus, Syracuse scored four goals in the second period, tying the most SU has scored in a single period all season. Kristen Siermachesky, Brooke Avery, Savannah Rennie and Lauren Bellefontaine each put pucks in the back of the net.

After Rennie scored to give the Orange a 4-1 lead, the Colonials replaced goalie Arielle DeSmet with Lauren Bailey. It didn’t seem to make much of a difference as Abby Moloughney scored a power play goal with 2:57 left in regulation to seal the victory.

Jaycee Gebhard did score for Robert Morris in the third to make the score 5-2, giving the Colonials a little bit of life before Moloughney’s dagger.

Goalie Ady Cohen made 26 saves for the Orange. This was her second game starting in net for Syracuse in the tournament.

Anonda Hoppner led Syracuse with five points in the CHA Tournament. Bellefontaine, Moloughney and Lindsay Eastwood were second on the team in points through the tournament, each with four.

Selections for the 2019 NCAA women’s ice hockey tournament will be announced Sunday. Eight teams will play for the national title. As the CHA champion, Syracuse will have the eighth seed and play the first seed in the first round.

dzedelst@syr.edu | @DavidZEdelstein