After losing nine straight games — its worst start in program history — Syracuse turned to goalie Ady Cohen. Cohen, the projected starter in the preseason, had split time evenly with Allison Small. Against Union, SU rode Cohen’s 20-save shutout to its first win of the season.

“It’s definitely a good feeling to get the monkey off the back,” said Cohen on Oct. 31.

Four days later, Cohen recorded another shutout to give Syracuse its second win of the season against RIT. Still, SU head coach Paul Flanagan hasn’t committed to her as the starter.

In both of the Orange’s (2-10, 1-1 College Hockey America) wins, they needed shutout performances from Cohen. Small, who has started seven games in the net, leads the team in saves (193) but doesn’t have a win. Both Small and Cohen’s save percentages hover around .875 this season and Flanagan has yet to choose a primary netminder.

“What it does do is continue that healthy competition between the two and that’s what you want,” Flanagan said.

Small transferred to Syracuse halfway through last year’s season from Quinnipiac, where she played 12 games in two seasons. At SU in 2018-19, she played only 80 minutes over two games. But this year, she’s started more games than Cohen, and has recorded over 100 more saves. Five of her starts came against ranked opponents.

Though Allison has recorded over 30 saves three times — including a season-high 36 saves against No. 4 Northeastern — she’s still searching for a win. In back-to-back games against No. 6 Princeton, Small had 59 total saves, but allowed five goals.

Cohen came into the season after starting 13 games last year, when she led the team to the program’s first CHA championship win and was named to the all-tournament team. Cohen has a 2.64 goals against average, slightly better than the 2.75 mark she finished with last season.

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Flanagan said he’s happy with the two goalies’ improved play. Small and Cohen have conceded 47 goals between them, but 16 have been on the penalty kill, a weakness of the team.

“We’re starting to get where, in a good way, it’s hard to decide who’s going to play,” said Flanagan. “This is what you want when I say healthy competition. We’re evolving to that, it’s good for us, it’s good for the club.”

As a duo, the two goalies have a combined 3.67 goals against average against nonconference teams. Last year, Syracuse’s goalies had a 3.28 goals against average for the season, compared to 2.66 during conference play.

The winner of the CHA gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, so the Orange know how important its conference record is, players and coaches said. Despite its worst start in program history, Syracuse has started conference play 1-1 entering a week off.

Typically, Flanagan has a primary starting goalie by now, relying on Maddi Welch, Abbey Miller and Jenn Gilligan throughout the last couple of seasons. In 2019, with the way Cohen and Small have played, the decision on who will win the starting goalie job is still unclear.

Said Flanagan: “I’m feeling more and more confident with either one of them.”

Published on November 6, 2019 at 9:47 pm

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