First time scorers lead Syracuse Ice Hockey in 3-2 win over RIT

A day like today is one that calls for celebration. In Syracuse Ice Hockey’s (8-20, 6-8 in AHA) 3-2 win over RIT (13-12-3, 6-7-1 in AHA), two new faces found the back of the net for the Orange. Juniors Heidi Knoll and Sami Gendron tallied their first goals of the season here today. ‘Cuse Head Coach Britni Smith says that when these two found the back of the net, it just felt different.

“Yeah, I think you can see it on our bench. Everyone is extremely excited when those two put it in. Both of them have had a ton of opportunities throughout the season, so it’s nice to see them kind of get the monkey off the back a little bit. Again, when you talk about our culture and character and being able to be excited for your teammates, our bench was very excited.”

But there’s even more cause for celebration. After starting off 2025 with eight-straight losses, Syracuse is finally back in the win column in the new year. But, Coach Smith says she’s taking things one series at a time.

“I think for us, again, we talked about it last night, but we just won the series there. So we have the head-to-head, which is huge for us. We don’t focus on standings, we don’t focus on points. But that was a goal of ours, win the series, and to drop one on the road and win the other three, that’s a hard-fought series that I think we earned.”

Great to see us be able to come out with a win tonight. I definitely think the highlight though is just you know the fact that we could do it in front of our biggest fan and her family and you know I think that that really honestly sparked our energy and our heart play tonight.

With some momentum behind their backs, Syracuse looks ahead to its next doubleheader against Lindenwood (3-21-2, 2-11-1 in AHA). Game one is on Friday at four, and the Orange gets set for their senior weekend and final two home games of the regular season. Reporting from Tennity Ice Pavilion, Ben Chadwick, Citrus TV.