BUFFALO — Mercyhurst had one last chance to send the game into overtime. Seventy seconds left, the clock ticked down.

Two shots in the front of the net by K.K. Thiessen were blocked by Savannah Rennie. A shot by Rachel Marmen was rejected by Allie Munroe in the middle of a scrum. Fifty-five seconds remained then 30. The Lakers pulled their goalie after a night in which they created countless scoring opportunities. But like she did most of the night, junior goalie Ady Cohen shut the door, forcing the last two shots of Mercyhurst’s season wide of the pipe.

Cohen recorded 28 saves in three-seeded Syracuse’s 4-3 win over No. 2 Mercyhurst (15-14-5, 12-6-2) in the CHA Semifinal contest. “I don’t know how they didn’t go in,” Flanagan said of the “frenetic” ending. On the back of Cohen, Syracuse (12-21-3, 10-8-2) will play No. 1 Robert Morris in the conference championship game on Friday.

“We really depended on her and she came up big when we needed her,” Lindsay Eastwood, who recorded a hat trick, said.

Throughout the game, Mercyhurst’s forwards put pressure on SU’s defensemen as they tried to ignite the offense or clear the puck. It gave the Orange trouble and led to many point-blank chances for the Lakers. Cohen was there to clean up the mess.

In the first period, freshman defender Shelby Calof tried to clear a puck up the left boards, but a Mercyhurst forward blocked it with her leg pad and wristed a shot on net a few feet away from the net. Shaky defense early in the game led to several wide-open scoring chances for Mercyhurst, but Cohen kept turning them away. Cohen made 23 saves in the first two periods.

The defense saved Cohen at times, too. In the third period, Cohen had to go into a split to stop a bouncing shot, but the rebound trickled across the goal line. In the scrum in front of the net, an SU defender cleared the puck off the line, preventing a goal.

“The saves she made kept us in the game,” Munroe said. “She saves us, we save her. It’s kind of a give-and-take kind of thing, but she was bailing us out a lot tonight.”

Mercyhurst outshot Syracuse 31-26, and Cohen said the Lakers launched any shot they could get. Cohen had success against Mercyhurst’s volume attack in the regular season — saving 44 of 45 Lakers shots in two starts — which is why Flanagan started her tonight.

Cohen added that she thrives in games with a lot of shots because she can get in a rhythm, instead of standing in her goal without action. Cohen made pad saves, stick saves, glove saves and split saves, which she calls the most satisfying.

Still, Cohen was not perfect. She allowed a goal every period, and SU responded each time. Two of the goals Cohen allowed came off rebounds and the other was from a slapshot she couldn’t see because a Mercyhurst forward screened her in front of the net. Holding Mercyhurst’s high-powered offense, which led the conference in scoring, to three goals proved pivotal.

“We couldn’t have done it without Ady,” forward Anonda Hoppner, who scored in the second period, said. “She was really hot tonight.”

SU entered the third period with a 3-2 lead, and swapped goals to make it 4-3 with eight minutes left.

Cohen stymied each of the Lakers’ desperate attempts, including their ambush in the final minute. She said the key to clamping down in the final minute is to play within yourself and keep composure like any other situation.

As soon as the buzzer sounded, signaling the culmination of Cohen’s effort, SU cleared the bench and raced to mob Cohen in her goal. For the fourth time in five years, the Orange hard earned a chance at the CHA title.

“I was just like, ‘Oh my God, we really did it,’” Cohen said. “I was overwhelmed with happiness,” Cohen said.

Published on March 7, 2019 at 11:40 pm

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