Syracuse defeats Stonehill 4-0

John Boccio I @JohnBoccio23

Two games, two goalies, two shutouts, and you might be seeing double, because Syracuse women’s ice hockey overtook Stonehill for nothing. Once again, in Tennity Ice Pavilion the ‘Cuse have already matched the amount of shutouts they posted last season, and head coach Brittany Smith feels defensive strategy has been a huge part of the Orange’s success.

“You know, for us, coming back hard to the house, protecting our scoring area, regardless of the numbers. You know, not only does that set us up for a strong defensive core, but it puts us in good positions for offensively, breaking pucks out. So that’s definitely something we’ve put, you know, huge emphasis on to get to know what’s being noticed.”

“It’s really important to back check, and we kind of emphasize playing from the D zone out. So having a good D zone will result in offensive zone time. So if we don’t dial it in in the D zone and have really good back pressure on the back check, we can’t go on offense. So even if we have numbers in our advantage on the back check, we always push to have the forwards back checking hard, because you never know what can happen.”

SU’s defensive game plan was backboned by 20 saves from sophomore netminder Bella Gould, the goalkeeper made just her second appearance in a Syracuse uniform tonight. Hopefully the ‘Cuse can keep this defensive prowess up against St Lawrence on Tuesday. SU hasn’t defeated the saints Since 2014. That game kicks off at six at St Lawrence, reporting from Tennity Ice Pavilion. John Boccio, Citrus TV