After four minutes and fifty-nine seconds into the overtime period, Syracuse had lost. The Orange had battled all game. Had come from behind twice. But after three whole periods and nearly all of overtime, Laker forward Maggie Knott took the puck in the SU corner and thrust it toward the net. 

After it pinballed between a forest of legs, the puck found its way into the back of the SU net. Orange skaters bowed their heads, their arms sagged. Goaltender Ady Cohen slammed her stick against the post, her frustration flowing out. SU’s bench somberly emptied out before quietly shaking hands and saluting the crowd at Tennity Ice Pavilion. 

Syracuse (6-14-1, 5-2-1 College Hockey America) was bested in overtime by Mercyhurst (12-8-2, 6-2-0), 4-3, on Saturday night. The Orange had regained first place in the conference just 24 hours prior. They had scored eight goals to defeat the Lakers and claim the top spot. But on a night that could have ended with head coach Paul Flanagan earning his 400th win as a college coach, SU had to fight and scrap just to stay level.

“We were stuck at our end for a while there, we got to learn and get pucks out and execute at the end,” Mae Batherson said.

Mercyhurst slotted the only goal of the first period, a scrappy shot that squeezed under the right pad of Cohen. Six minutes into the second, though, Madison Beishuizen picked up the rebound from her own breakaway shot to equalize the game at one. 

Four minutes later, Anonda Hoppner won the faceoff for the Orange in their offensive zone and played it back to Lindsay Eastwood on the blue line, who sent the puck to the stick of Mae Batherson. Batherson ripped a slapshot from the top of the circle, rifling the puck off the crossbar and in for the 4-on-4 goal, giving Syracuse the 2-1 lead.

But the lead was short-lived. Less than two minutes later, Rachel Marmen capitalized on her breakaway – the result of a blistering Mercyhurst breakout – and evened things up at two. 

“That just revolves around, you know, sticking with it, sticktoitiveness, if that’s a word,” Flanagan said, “just sticking to our plan and, you know, having to make plays and critical junctures.”

Once again, Syracuse’s penalty woes factored into their loss tonight. Emma Polaski was sent to the box late in the second period for hooking. Mercyhurst quickly recorded four shots on Cohen, with the fifth shot off of junior forward Alexa Vasko finally breaking through.

That’s why the Lakers held a 3-2 lead over the Orange heading into the third. A back-and-forth game had tilted in Mercyhurst’s favor, and Cohen (39 saves) continued to bail out the Orange in their zone and limit the deficit to one. As the third period approached the halfway mark, Polaski took the puck into the Mercyhurst zone and dumped a high shot on goalie Kennedy Blair, who had trouble smothering the shot. The puck rolled off her sweater and onto the ice. Syracuse defender Eastwood was there at the top of the crease to bury it home. 

“That was a communication on our end,” said Eastwood. “Emma [Polaski] knew what she had and she took the right shot and gave us a good rebound and we capitalized.”

Tied at three, the clock ran down, and the two teams entered overtime. Like the three periods that preceded it, both Syracuse and Mercyhurst traded shots at their opponent’s netminders — only for them to be turned away. But in the final 90 seconds, Mercyhurst dominated, spending nearly the entire time in the Syracuse zone until its final shot hit the back of the net. The time on the clock was 0.1, the final score 4-3.  

“You know, you win 8-3,” Flanagan said after the game, his record still at 399 wins, “you walk out of here last night feeling pretty good about yourself. Then you come back here, today is a different day, and I don’t know if we transitioned real well last night preparing for today. So we need to do the same things.” 

Published on January 11, 2020 at 9:08 pm

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