Freshman Stephanie Skilton scored three goals and led Syracuse (5-7-1, 1-5-1 Atlantic Coast) to a 4-0 win against Pittsburgh (4-8-1, 0-7) on Sunday before 323 fans at Ambrose Urbanic Field in Pittsburgh. The result gave SU its first win in the ACC.

SU controlled the tempo from the early stages and broke through on a corner kick in the 21st minute. Sophomore Jackie Firenze served the ball into the box, and junior Megan Hunsberger headed home her first goal of the season.

The Orange increased its lead to 2-0 when Skilton scored on a shot that slid past Panthers goalkeeper Nicole D’Agostino in the 43rd minute.

Skilton continued to shine in the second half, scoring her second goal in the 76th minute on a through ball from senior Rachel Blum. Skilton completed the hat trick less than 10 minutes later to push SU’s lead to 4-0.

Syracuse outshot Pittsburgh 17-to-6 and senior goalkeeper Brittany Anghel made three saves to record her third shutout of the season. Anghel passed Eliza Bennett-Hattan as the Orange’s all-time leader in career shutouts with 21.

SU will continue play against quality ACC opponents when it returns home to face No. 5 Florida State on Thursday at 7 p.m. and Miami on Sunday at noon. Both games will be played at SU Soccer Stadium.

Ice hockey

Syracuse split its first two games of the 2013 season, winning its opener at No. 10 Northeastern, 4-1, before dropping a Saturday contest to New Hampshire 3-2.

The Orange erupted for three goals in the third period on Friday to break a 1-1 tie with the Huskies.

Sadie St. Germain scored with 14:35 remaining to give Syracuse the lead for good. Jessica Silbey scored her first collegiate goal to provide SU with insurance and Allie LaCombe provided the dagger to put Syracuse up 4-1.

Northeastern got on the board first with 4:29 left in the second period on a Maggie Brennoit goal. Nicole Fererra capitalized on a power play a minute later, and the Orange didn’t look back.

Kallie Billadeau stopped 27 shots in the season opener.

The weekend’s second game didn’t go as well for Syracuse, which was outshot 36-to-26 by New Hampshire. After scoring the last four goals on Friday, it was UNH that came back from a late 2-0 deficit to overtake the Orange.

Silbey picked up where she left off on Friday night, scoring her second goal on a power play a little more than 15 minutes into the game. The score remained 1-0 until a Brittney Krebs tally 27 minutes later.

Alexis Crossley scored on a power play two minutes later for UNH, and Jessica Hitchcock tied the score with 16:57 left in the game.

Crossley proved to be hero once again, netting the game winner with 5:33 remaining.

Even with the loss, Billadeau managed to knock away 33 Wildcat attempts.

Syracuse opens its home schedule on Friday against Clarkson at 7 p.m.

— Compiled by staff writers Austin Mirmina, [email protected], and Sam Blum, [email protected]

Published on October 6, 2013 at 11:51 pm

Contact Sam: [email protected] | @SamBlum3